TK: The Legendary
by BelieveInKi1214
Summary: It was leaked that Kagome is keeper of the jewel. Something about Sasuke being adopted by a demon? What? Now the Akatsuki are after her and the remaining Jinchuuriki. Will Team Kakashi get them before the others? AN: I'm deleting this story soon. -Discontinued- Last Chapter is Up.
1. The Legendary Prologue

**[AN: I DON'T own InuYasha or Naruto or the songs mentioned in this chapter. **

**No copyright infringement intended. I'm not making a profit off of this. I'm still broke. o_o' **

**Anyway, this isn't a real chapter; it's my opening for the story; it's like a Prologue. You don't have to read it to read the next chapters. It's just for fun. Not really a part of this story. ] [It'd be fun if you read it though. :)]**

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><p><strong>The Legendary [Opening; Choosing Song, Prologue; whatever!]<strong>

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><p>The cast and crew were waiting backstage. Sakura, Ino, InuYasha, Miroku, Sango, Shikamaru, etc., etc. [too many people to count.] they were all there. All of them were getting their makeup on. Yes, including the guys. This is a very important story to them, and they want to look their best while they play their parts! Even Shikamaru… So just read on, alright?<p>

Alright! So everyone was there- But one of the main characters. Three of them were already here. Yes, Kakashi was there; big surprise there; he's not late. Seriously; even Sasuke and Naruto were there, too. But the girl-?

Where is Kagome!

"I'm here! I'm here! Wait!" she yelled running up the stage's stairs, suspiciously missing two, and almost slipping. But she quickly caught herself on the railing, luckily. She can't be hurt on the set! This is important! Very, very important! Everyone knows how important this is!

Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi all looked at her with a questioning glance.

"Where were you at?" Naruto asked.

"We're about to go on," Sasuke commented.

"I had to go get my guitar!" she pointed to the white electric guitar that she held in her one hand that wasn't hanging on to the railing with a death grip.

Kakashi put away the small orange 'Icha Icha' book that he was reading while waiting, and got out his drumsticks from his shuriken pouch upon her noticeable arrival, and was now fixing her with his 'you're late' look. "Alright, well you're here now, and we've got a show to put on in three minutes."

"Three minutes!" Kagome yelled, and she ran to the mirrors; getting her makeup on quickly, and came back one minute later, looking much more rock-ified. "What song are we doing anyway?"

"Let's do '_You are my Friend_'!" Naruto enthused.

"No." all three of his costars said.

Naruto pouted.

"'_Grip_', '_Do As Infinity_'?" Kagome asked.

The males shook their heads. Kagome just shrugged.

"Those are _InuYasha_… this story is only in that scene at least a few times, but it's mainly in _Naruto_." Sasuke answered with a frown.

Everyone silently agreed. They needed a song that fit this story that is right now being told. Not something for some story that has already past; but for one that is being rewritten and retold.

"How about we do '_Go! Fighting Dreamers'_ by _Flow_?" Sasuke suggested when no one threw in another idea.

They thought about that for ten seconds before they all agreed. Even though it was for _Naruto_, it would work! Everyone loves that song! And, it fits!

"I get my guitar solo!" Kagome said quickly while they each got in their places on the stage behind the red draw curtain. Sasuke and Naruto had guitars and microphones, Kakashi was on drums, and Kagome stood in the center of Naruto and Sasuke, but in the back a little.

**[AN: It'd really help if you were listening to that song as of this moment, I'm not typing the lyrics! lol]**

The people who were drawing the curtains; Sesshoumaru and Itachi, smirked at them before pulling the ropes. They knew they'd pick the right song. It fits; and who doesn't love that song? The lights were all off, except the spotlights the strobes and the very strange blue tinted disco ball that was hung above their heads and the bass was going fresh.

Kagome began to play, followed by Kakashi, and the others, and Naruto then began singing; with Sasuke as back up.

Seriously, you should be listening to it on YouTube like right now.

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><p><strong>AN:I did this like a movie. or a Televison show; see? Lol. It was fun writing this, anyway. The next chapter is being written right now. :)<strong>


	2. Ch 13 Getting Ready to Take it

**AN: I don't own InuYasha or Naruto, **

**You can Google it to see who really owns them, cause I really hate posting who owns what when you can just find out for your self. **

**Sorry, this chapter was actually supposed to be longer, but I couldn't think, and then there's the fact that I was supposed to update two days ago.**

**So, HERE, is part two to Team Kakashi. [Yes, it's still the thirteenth chappy.]**

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><p><strong>Chapter Info;<strong>

**PAGE MINIMUM: 12 Pages. [at the least.] **

**Words: 5,570**

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><p><em><strong>Team Kakashi, Part 2<strong>_**: The Legendary**

**[Or in other words, Chapter 13.]**

**Chapter 1: Getting Ready to Take it. **

**[—somewhere, sometime...—]**

The air was blowing peacefully outside, the birds were chirping, kids were playing around ignorantly near their village. It was the ideal peaceful kind of day that everyone would have wished, or hoped for. A lot of the villagers were just relaxing, growing their herbs, tending to their garden, and what not. None of the villagers were paying attention to the havoc that was being wreaked. Nope they weren't worried, not at all. They had nothing to worry about.

That was The Slayers' job.

The Slayers', or a small group of ningen heroes, always saved their village's hindquarters. It's what they do. They chose to do this on their own, even though most of the time they needed a little push to do the simplest work, since the villagers were kind of lazy and didn't want to do it... But, No one expected anything less of them since… or anything more for that matter… even though the group had dwindled a bit.

The Slayers' group now consisted of a cream twin tailed nekomata youkai with black ears, thick cream collar, two thin black stripes at the ends of her tails and red eyes with black pupils. Right now the cat was in her normal size; her huge saber-tooth form. She was about the size of a tiger, with fire surrounding the cuffs of her black paws, and her teeth had grown so her fangs were visible outside of her mouth.

On her back was a nicely shaped woman with long dark brown hair that was pulled back into a high ponytail, her bangs cut straight across her face, and her sides cut straight a little past her ears. She had brown eyes and magenta-tattooed lids. She wore a full black body-suit suited for fighting with hot pink leather armor plates for protection, and black leather boot flats. Her weapon of choice was a huge tan based and brown ringed boomerang-shaped weapon. "This is getting ridiculous." she sighed, staring at their enemy that was at least a yard ahead.

On the woman's shoulder, there was a small boy. He had shoulder length auburn hair that was up in a ponytail that was tied with a teal bow with white spots. He wore a forest green hakamas, and a white haori with a tan vest-like over shirt. He had forest green eyes, pointy elf-like ears, and nothing on his feet-his feet were bare; tan, furry, and resembled animal's feet. He didn't reply to the woman. He just frowned.

Behind the woman that the little boy was sitting on was a man with short violet-tinted black hair that was tied back in a small pony tail at the nape of his neck, and his bangs somewhat in his face. His skin was slightly tanned and he had dark violet eyes. He wore black and purple houshi garbs on his person. He was thickly robed; he also wore black sandals on his feet, and his weapons of choice were a golden reiki-charged staff, and sutras stashed in his robe. He also hadn't said anything for a minute.

The woman of the group was now glaring ahead at their opponent who wasn't supposed to even be around the village around this time. There hadn't been many complaints since the final battle, but now it seems that problems keep coming up out of nowhere, and it's only getting harder because two of their members were now gone for nearly a month. They don't even understand what's going on, really.

"There shouldn't have been this many demon attacks to the village in one day," the man commented, in a serious voice. "It's only getting greater with each passing week since our final battle." His hands were in a seal as he mentally uttered necessary words. Then he hopped off the cat along with the woman, and they landed on the soft grass that was at the cat's feet. The little boy was still sitting on the cat's back. The older members were now facing the lesser demon.

"I know that," the woman answered. "The question is; how many more is there going to be by next week?" she rubbed her stomach once to cool the nausea down at the idea of fighting into next week as well as the last. And she played with the weapon on her back.

No one could answer her; they didn't know themselves.

"Wind Style: Kazaana!" the male yelled, pointing his right hand toward the demon who, frankly, was alone on this night, besides his human servants who were possessed by his demon ones. In his hand a dark-as-night-violet hole formed; anything in its path was being sucked in. It was like a vacuum, only it sucked up _everything_, including humans if they were there.

"Hiraikotsu!" The woman shouted, throwing her weapon at the remaining youkai in the area, and catching it again after the disgusting badger things were butchered. It was a relief working like this… but it's going to be a workout doing it _weekly_…

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><p><strong>Training Ground Seven:<strong>

"Aright, Naruto. We're going to try this again!"

"Aw! Come on!" Naruto whined. "We've been at this since we left the academy!"

"Dobe, she's right. You've got to at least spot the genjutsu."

They were sitting down in a triangle in the center of training ground seven. There was no real reason why they're sitting down, besides Naruto wanting a break. Kakashi didn't even want to be there, so he wasn't. He left them earlier; probably so he could read his Icha Icha book some more; which left them to the position that they're in now.

"Can we train in something else, then?" Naruto supplied, his head was resting on his hands that were clasped. He was actually _out_ of energy. It was eating at him, training in genjutsu was. Who knew spotting the opening could be so hard?

Kagome looked at him, disbelievingly. "Are you serious?" she deadpanned. "We don't know what's going to be on the second test, and frankly, you're in need of work on your genjutsu. We'll work on something else after this."

"We have to get up early in the morning tomorrow!"

Kagome grinned.

"Then train harder." Sasuke replied with a smirk. After that was said they all stood up and got back to training.

They worked for one more hour, and Naruto finally successfully found the fix in the genjutsu; _after_ Kagome did a tricky one where there were too many ninjas that were aiming to be Hokage. Naruto either had to fight them off, or find the opening. At the first few tries he tried fighting them off, only to be badly injured. So in the end he _had_ to find the opening, there was just no way around it, for anyone, especially the very clever knuckle headed ninja, Naruto. So after he found the opening, Kagome was merciful to him and showed him how to release it; which he learned pretty quickly.

Right now Kagome stood facing Sasuke, while Naruto was watching them; on the break he well deserved. Kagome held both her hands in a boar hand seal getting ready to go on with the rest of the seals to perform her ninjutsu. She's worked on this jutsu since she was 6. She barely had anyone to train her in it, so she decided to train herself then… but now she can train with her teammates. She really wanted to try it out on Kakashi, but he wasn't there. So she just had to settle for Sasuke. [Naruto isn't quite ready for it yet.]

Her chest heaved while she concentrated on her chakra to give it more energy than her reiki, as it was needed for this jutsu. She let her Junseirigan light up her eyes into their third stage, while she stared into crimson red pinwheel ones. It was time. She flew through the rest of the seals before muttering, "Secret Style: Iron Weaver."

Silver colored iron prongs poked up from the grass at her feet in a circle around her before growing to her shoulders and stopping for a second time since they've appeared. Sasuke was watching while his two-tomoed Sharingan spun wildly. He was trying to figure out what kind of ninjutsu this was. He hasn't seen her do it before. '_Maybe if I copy it_-'

"You can try." Kagome answered. "But I really doubt it'd work."

"W-what is that?" Naruto muttered, staring at the metal prongs. '_Those, metal things…_'

Kagome didn't answer him; she just stared at Sasuke waiting for his next move. He's caught sight of her jutsu, now what will he do? She doesn't think that he can copy it. He could try, but it'd be hard. This metal jutsu is like a kekkei genkai, she's come to think of it as part of her elemental chakra use. That could be it. There hasn't been any record of anyone using iron metal in the Konoha library, so what else could it be?

After trying to find out where the chakra was coming from in her new jutsu, Sasuke finally realized that he couldn't copy this jutsu, let alone understand it well enough to guard himself. He decided that it was time to use the jutsu that she taught him a while back; before the exams started. He went through his hand seals a bit slower than Kagome, but not by much, and finally landed on a tiger seal, his Sharingan span some more while he stared at Kagome. This jutsu he was going to use should work, right? All metal are conductors. This should work. It has to! "Lightning Style: Thunder Dragon!" he yelled. He just really hoped he doesn't hurt her; he wouldn't be able to live with himself if it did.

The prongs that Kagome had in front of her grew until they were at least past her head. The prongs bent together in a way that made them seem like armor before they stopped and stayed in front of Kagome like a protective sheet of aluminum over food. The prongs were weaved through with horizontal ones making it look like a cage-modeled armor. Even though it looked like a defensive jutsu, Kagome made it so that it worked in both ways; it just used a lot of chakra and reiki. But she needed to perfect it, and right now was as good a time as any other training session. It's not like she could practice it during the test, she doubts they'd let her even try it. This jutsu had better work, too; she hadn't worked on this since that one time she had created it.

Sasuke's jutsu, the thunder dragon, came at Kagome's chakra-made armor. It didn't look like a dragon. It was very bright and was a yellow and bright blue color, sort of like Kakashi's chidori, but it was like an extension of his arm instead of a small ball of electric chakra in his hand. It was very jagged and long, like a bolt of lightening. It aimed for the metal prongs that were almost touching Kagome's shoulders, and the moment it touched them—

The prongs that were near Kagome grew some more, and made a complete shield around her body. The lightning hit the armor, but it went over it, confusing Sasuke and Naruto. Iron is metal. Metals are conductors; why didn't it shock her?

"It's different." Kagome smiled behind the iron wall, before the wall fell to the ground and flattened itself out around her body, while she still stood facing Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes were wide. '_She's manipulating the iron…_' he thought, still trying to get past the shock he was in.

'_Whoa._' Naruto thought. '_It's like the metal is bending to her will._' Naruto's eyes filled with hearts again while he was gaping at Kagome. '_She's got to teach me that!_'

The metal finally completely disappeared and Kagome began to waver on her feet. '_Crap. I used too much chakra again…_' she thought. '_I really shouldn't have moved it too much._'

"Kagome!" Naruto and Sasuke gasped both running over to her.

Sasuke was at her side first; he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her to him tightly. "That used too much chakra." he worriedly looked her over.

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "No, it didn't. She just decided to pass out."

Kagome didn't speak for a minute.

"Kagome, are you alright?"

"Yea, I'm fine." She stood a little straighter; Sasuke still not letting go of her yet... "Naruto, your break is over. You might want to work on Rasengan while we still have time. We have to get to bed soon." She looked up to the sky, with a wandering look in her eyes. '_I wish Miroku-sama and Sango-chan were here to help me train._' she sighed.

Naruto groaned, but got ready to make his shadow clone anyway.

"No shadow clone this time." Kagome said before he could execute his jutsu.

Naruto was horrified. '_I couldn't do that jutsu without my clone! Where did she come up with this jutsu anyway?_'

"I didn't come up with it." She answered his mental question. She stared long at his hand without moving her gaze. "Try it now." She ordered, deactivating her doujutsu.

Naruto held out his right hand, staring at it like it was just going to come up with a jutsu by itself. There's no way he'd be able to do it without his clone. But Kagome did say that it was wasting some valuable chakra by creating a clone first. Maybe if he'd just…

He sent all of his chakra into his one hand, his left hand on top of the other with just enough space for a small sphere to form. It looked as if nothing was going to happen for a moment, but Kagome wasn't fooled. There was a reason why she told him not to do it with his clone. She saw that he was going to be able to do it eventually, tonight.

A small blue sphere of air release chakra formed in his hand, the small chakra specks were spiraling wildly, all going in the same direction. It stayed small for a minute, and began to grow before it went out completely.

"At least you can do it without a clone now!" Kagome chirped, still in Sasuke's arms. "Sasuke, you can let go now."

Naruto was glaring at Sasuke's arms now. The things were still wrapped around _his_ Kagome.

The moment she was out of his arms, Sasuke missed the void that she had filled when she was there, but he shook it off, and put a smug smile on his face. "Hn." He muttered, closing his eyes and turning his head away to face a different direction. "You can do it without a clone, but it still isn't big enough to hurt anyone."

Naruto growled. "Why you-!"

"Okay!" Kagome said, cutting off whatever argument that was bound to happen. She stepped in front of Naruto and placed her hands on his shoulders "That's enough training for tonight! Go to sleep and get plenty of rest!" '_Who knows how long they'd argue if I let them continue?_'

Naruto and Sasuke blinked, but nodded none the less. '_She sure isn't acting like she's tired right now…_' they thought.

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><p>The next Morning, Team 7, along with every other Genin team that passed was all at the designated destination that they were given by their sensei[s]. Everyone present stood gaping at what was visible with wide, amazed eyes. The wind was even blowing ominously in the background. It was hard to believe that this place was the place that they were taking the second part of the Chuunin Selection Exams.<p>

"Whoa. Cool place. What is it?" Naruto stepped forward, eyes still wide.

"It's amazing." Kagome murmured from his right side, Sasuke stepping up to her right. All three of them, plus some of the other candidates were eyeing the fence that had red kanji markings on it that read 'Training Ground 44' with wide eyes. All three, were shocked. This seems like an odd place to have an exam….

Anko then spoke, standing in front of the fence that blocked off the space that everyone was staring at that only showed a few thick-trunked trees in the greenery. "This is the location for the second phase of the exam." she sounded like she was trying to scare them.

It didn't work.

'_That's wicked._' Kagome thought with a smirk.

"It's the forty-fourth battle training zone." Anko continued with her hands on her hips while she eyed Naruto. "But we call it the Forest of Death." she smirked.

The wind blew ominously some more, while everyone turned their attention elsewhere and stared at the crazy lady.

"Forest…of …Death?" Naruto asked with a shocked look on his face. Everyone was eying the forest and waiting for the rules for the next test with either confused, or nervous faces. This forest was huge.

"This place looks dark." Kagome commented.

"It should be. They call it the Forest of Death." Anko replied with a grin. "And soon enough, you're gonna find out why."

Kagome nodded once and stared past the woman again and straight at a creeping crawler that was climbing up the huge trunk of a tree, with stunned eyes. That thing's huge. It was almost as big as a human. She doesn't want to think about whatever else that might be in that forest. It kind of grossed her out.

Naruto huffed. He didn't believe one word of what Anko was spouting. She's obviously just trying to get them to flip out and quit. And it isn't working for him! He's not a quitter; especially after that scene in the Academy yesterday. He put his hands on his hips and squatted while wagging his hips back and forth before badly imitating Anko's voice. "They call it the forest of death! And soon enough you'll find out why!"

If nothing else Naruto did gained attention; _that_ surely did.

"Naruto." Kagome groaned, blushing from the attention that he was getting. Sasuke just scowled at Naruto with a deadpan look.

Seriously? What goes through that boy's head anyway?

Naruto ignored her and stood straight again. "Do your worst, you're not going to scare me away!" then he closed his eyes and pointed at Anko, "I can handle anything!"

Anko just chuckled, and closed her eyes with a wide smile on her face. "So, looks like we've got ourselves a tough guy."

Then out of nowhere, a kunai slid down her right sleeve, and she got ready to throw the kunai at Naruto, the smile still in place. When the kunai went flying, Kagome, who saw this coming, was at Naruto's side in an instant, and caught the kunai around its hilt before it came in contact with Naruto's cheek.

Kagome slid the kunai in her obi so that it was completely hidden, and wrapped an arm around Naruto's waist. "Don't talk big, Naruto. You're gonna get attacked for it one of these days." she chided with her eyes closed, and a huge smile on her face, her left index finger stood straight upward, like she was giving the laws of physics or something.

Naruto, who was confused, looked around for the kunai that was coming toward him, [that he could have sworn he'd seen]. "Where did the kunai go?"

"What kunai?" Kagome asked, confusedly.

"The one that—"Naruto cut himself off. "Never mind. To hell with it!" he waved his hand in the air. Not even noticing that Kagome still had her arm around his waist, but Sasuke and Anko did.

Sasuke clenched his teeth. '_Of course he mutters off that he'll get her first, but he doesn't even notice when she's _too_ close to him._' He mentally growled.

Anko came over to them in a flash and took Kagome by both of her arms pulling her away from Naruto, and earning a shocked glance from everyone that was watching, including Kagome. But then she let go of her arms and rested her hands on Kagome's shoulders in a grip that held Kagome in place, she couldn't move even if she tried. "Nice try, hun." Anko said sweetly. "Give me my kunai." she cut the sweet act.

Kagome pulled it from her obi and grinned at Anko. "First you have to say please."

Anko snorted, rolling her eyes. "Please," she said sarcastically. "Like I would say 'please' to get my kunai back from a little girl."

"You just did, twice." Kagome held up the kunai and tossed it to Anko, still with a mocking smile on her face.

Anko caught it in her one hand and put it back in her sleeve. "Tough guys like Blondie over here usually leave their blood all over the forest." Then she turned her attention to the blonde in question who was shocked still at the moment. "What's the matter; scared?"

Naruto hadn't moved an inch.

Some ninjas wearing straw hats stepped up and watched the scene. No one paid attention to them though; it was nothing of concern. They're just walking up closer to get a better view of what had just happened. Anyone would have done it, really. Though, no one else really had done it. Squad seven was making a spectacle of themselves at the moment, even though it wasn't like they hadn't already.

"Let's hear the rules, ne?" Kagome asked with a smile on her face, not even noticing that one of the grass ninjas were eyeing her and her teammates with careful precision. No, she was still smiling at Anko. That's because nothing could go wrong for her team during this second exam. Nope, nothing could go wrong at all.

"What a fast brat." one of the ninjas muttered.

Everyone then turned their attention to the ninja. Yes the person spoke a bit quietly, but they're voice was just edgy and weird. Of course it was going to be noticed. Kagome stared at the ninja for a long minute before turning back around to face Anko again. "So, the rules?"

"Seems like everyone here is quick tempered." Anko commented, thoughtfully. "There must be something in the air. Hn, this is going to be fun." she grinned.

Naruto then snapped out of his stupor. '_Quick tempered? Sheesh. You're the one who threw the kunai at me!_' he thought with his hands on his hips while he eyed her with wide eyes.

"Okay, before we begin this test, I have something I need to hand out to you all." she walked back toward the fence, and pulled a stack of papers out of the inside of her coat before turning around. "It's just a standard consent form."

Everyone eyed her with wide eyes, again. What does she mean?

"Before the test, all of you are going to have to read over this form," she tapped the back of it with the hand that isn't holding it up. "and then sign it." She was absolutely serious.

Half the people there was wondering what could be so important that they had to sign an agreement?

"What for?" Naruto asked with a confused face.

"Some of you may not come back from this test." She answered with a small smirk. "And I have to get your consent to that risk." Then she laughed. "Otherwise, it would be my responsibility." she chuckled, like it was something funny. It wasn't to everyone else.

'_You're kidding right? You don't want to be responsible for our deaths or whatever?_' Kagome thought with her brows furrowed and her hands limp at her sides. '_I guess its understandable._' she sighed.

Anko finally stopped laughing, the consent form still being held up in the air. "Now, I'll explain what you'll be doing on this test." Then she turned to Naruto and handed him the stack of papers. "Here pass these out." Then she returned her hand to her hip and gazed at everyone else while Naruto passed the forms; take one pass it back. "The first thing that you need to know is that this test will tax every one of your survival skills."

'_I'm good at survival. What with traveling in the feudal era and all…_' Kagome thought with a blank face. Then Sasuke handed her a form, and she looked over it once, before looking back up to Anko.

Everyone else was busy getting their forms and gazing over the forms.

'_Heh. Survival._' Some male with a feminine face thought with a smirk. '_There's no way I couldn't pass_.' Before passing the stack back that he held.

"First, I'll give you all a description of the terrain on the practice field." Anko held up a map, with enough detail for anyone to understand. "The forty-forth battle training zone has forty-four locked entrance gates. There are rivers and a forest inside. In the center is a locked tower, located ten kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area that you will undergo the survival test. The test consists of," she rolled up the scroll that the map was printed on, and pocketed it again. "An 'anything goes' battle, to get your hands on these scrolls." she pulled out two scrolls, a navy blue and white one and a cream, navy blue and white one, both had black kanji markings on the center of their white tags.

"Both of them?" Sasuke asked, with a bored face, while holding his form and his other hand in his pocket.

"Yes." Then she put the scrolls out for everyone to read the kanji markings. "You'll be fighting to get both; a heaven scroll and an earth scroll."

Everyone either didn't get it, or they just were waiting for her to continue.

"How many scrolls are there?" Kagome asked, seriously curious as to how many there were.

"Well, altogether, 26 teams will be taking part in this test. So half of those teams will be going after the heaven scroll." Anko answered looking at Kagome, and holding up the cream scroll. "And the other half will be trying to get the earth scroll." Then she held them both in one hand, and looked at the rest of the candidates. "I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team, and that's what you'll be vying for."

Sasuke was drawing a blank. "Okay, so how do we pass the test?"

"Were you not just listening, Sasuke-kun?" Kagome turned to her teammate. "We have to get _both_ scrolls." she grinned.

Sasuke looked at her with understanding eyes, now, before turning back to Anko as she spoke to them.

"Yes, your squad must bring both a heaven and earth scroll to the tower."

"That means at the very best, half of us will fail," Sakura commented, from somewhere near Kagome, standing by both of her teammates.

"Or more, for the more unfortunate." Kagome added, nonchalantly.

"Mhm." Sakura nodded.

"No one ever said it would be easy." Anko lowered the scrolls, looking at Sakura. "Oh, and one more thing. The test has a time limit. You must finish it within five days."

"Five days out there!" Ino freaked out.

"What are we supposed to do for food!" Chouji shouted.

"That's definitely not an option; we'll finish in two." Kagome muttered to both Sasuke and Naruto. "Or if we're lucky, one."

They nodded in agreement, and looked back to Anko who was now answering Chouji's question. "Just look around, the forest has plenty to eat, plenty to feed all of you."

"Yea, but, that's not all the forest has plenty of." Kabuto commented looking back to the candidates, and then to the forest again before resting his gaze on Anko. "There are man-eating beasts and poisonous bugs in there."

"Well, it is a forest. It wouldn't be very forest-y if it didn't have poisonous bugs and beasts that eat men." Kagome commented. She doesn't like this guy, she had already decided after the first test was over. Freaking know-it-all nerd.

"Aw man!" Chouji complained, grabbing his hair.

"Quiet down. This is why they call it survival you know." Ino retorted, glaring at Chouji. '_He's_ _always worried about what to eat._'

"That means, with these circumstances, there's no way half the teams will pass." the guy named Neji spoke.

"With the days getting longer, the nights are getting shorter." Lee spoke, standing beside his male teammate. "So we will have less time to sleep, and less time to recover. It is a challenge indeed!"

"Completely surrounded by enemies." Sasuke commented, with a thoughtful look. "There won't be time to rest; we're going to have to keep a constant watch."

"It may seem kind of harsh, but we can all look on the bright side." Kagome chimed, from Naruto and Sasuke's sides.

"What 'bright side'?" Naruto asked, confused. What was this girl going on about now? She always has something to say, it seemed.

"There is none…" Kagome continued with a frown and a small blush from the attention that she gained.

Everyone, that was within hearing distance, sweat-dropped.

"That's right." Anko spoke. "This test also measures endurance behind enemy alliance. This was designed to be a grueling test. And I'm sure some of you won't be up for the challenge." she grinned. There has to be some people who aren't up for this challenge. They made the second exam this way for a reason.

Shikamaru raised his hand. "Okay, say, um… mid-exam, can we quit?"

'_What the…_' Kagome thought, eyeing Shikamaru, with shocked eyes. '_You can't do that_.'

"Of course, not." Anko rested her hands on her hips, and turned to face Shikamaru. "In the middle of a battle you can't say 'Sorry, I quit.'" She said before chuckling. "Well, you could, but it's probably going to get you killed."

"And she's laughing." Kagome muttered.

"Oh, just great." Shikamaru groaned, staring straight ahead with a lazy gaze. "This is going to be a drag."

Anko sobered up, and looked back to the rest of the candidates. "There are also ways you could get disqualified." She held up an index finger. "The first is simple: If all team members can't make it to the tower after five days." she held up a second finger. "Number two: If a team loses a member, or if a team becomes incapacitated and cannot continue. But most important, none of you, absolutely none of you may look at the contents of the scroll until you reach the tower." she finished sternly.

"What happens if it just happens to flap open and you read it?" Naruto, ever the curious one, asked.

"Let me put it to you this way, young man. You. Don't. Want. To. Know." she grinned tightly, pointing a finger at him.

Naruto groaned.

"There are times when ninja are asked to carry secret documents. The sole rule is to test your integrity. Okay, we're done. Each team, take your consent forms," she pointed toward the station where they were to get their scrolls. "And exchange them over there for your scrolls. After that, each team, pick a gate and you'll be led inside." she finished, then sighed. "Oh and I have one more word of advice, just don't die!"

Everyone blinked.

After that, everyone was scattered and filling out their forms, or reading it. It's always best to read something before you agree to it. Though, most of the candidates weren't reading it, they were skim reading it. Who wants to read a page-long contract that they have to agree to? No one. So they only looked at the important parts, and signed their names.

Kagome was reading over the consent form with a grim face. She has to read this? This is almost as bad as when she was in the academy, and kept missing most of her work—but it's alright! She still came out the second top ninja of her class, so why can't she get over this? She hurried and signed her name and then looked around the field.

'_Everyone is getting a different scroll, hm?_' she thought. '_We're just going to have to target some people to hurry and get this over with so we can deal with the harder parts later. Target them, before they target us._'

A few feet away, Sasuke was sat against a rock, with a thinking face on. He was looking at the guards that were drawing the red curtains to the station for the scrolls. Finally understanding why they were putting them up. It was so that no one knows who get's the scrolls. '_I get it._' he thought. '_It's just like Ibiki said, everyone is equally determined to pass._' He thought looking around. Yep, everyone is willing to kill to pass this test. '_And all of them are our enemies._'

Anko walked past Sasuke, with her hands still in her pockets, looking over everybody with a thought of everyone finally understanding that this is no joke. It was a real life-or-death situation that was packed in this test; that they couldn't afford to goof around. Well, excluding the blonde kid. She caught eye of him lolling around, with the form in his hand and a pen in his other, standing at least five feet away from the raven-haired girl with a grin plastered on his face. Anko shook her head with another lewd smile tugging at the corners of her lips, '_This is going to be fun._'

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><p><strong>AN: Really, I am sorry about not putting the complete Forest of Death scene in there, I just couldn't think, [my little sister has the t.v. on loud!]<strong>

**Review?**

**Oh, and the pictures for this story is up on my deviantART account which is the same as this one; BelieveInKi1214, just search it if you want to see the pictures. **

**:)**


	3. Ch 14 The Bigger the Problem

**AN: DISCLAIMER: I don't own InuYasha or Naruto. They don't belong to me. I'm not making a profit off of this; I'm still broke. O.o' **

**Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, I had a hard time writing it, because I was super lazy, plus I could just pass on this Arc if it wasn't important to my story. I hate the Forest of Death, seriously. Such a morbid place! I stuck half of the forest of death in here.**

**WARNING: This is a fanfiction. If you're not aware of it, please leave. Oh and there might be small OOC-ness. It's just a mild one though; they will get back into character later. **

**Also, I changed the appearance of Kagome's summon, Hiro. She has black fur now, and crystal blue eyes.**

**This is where the changes are accounted for! Big things are starting to happen. **

**Sorry about Kagome; I really am trying to keep her in character. But I don't have time to keep going back to wikia to look up her personality or watch the episodes. I just know how she is by my memory; which isn't all that great. But just read it, and give your opinions on this chapter, alright?**

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><p><strong>Chapter Info:<strong>

**Page minimum: 25 PAGES. **

**At the least 12, 847 WORDS **

**You have been warned.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: The Bigger the Problem [chap 14]<strong>

Squad Seven were at Gate 12. All three of them were wearing faces of preparation. Sasuke was glaring at the gate, Kagome was taking a break from her usual thinking, and Naruto was punching the air in front of him with a determined face yelling out something like, "Take that Ninjas! We're going to pass this test! Believe it!" but neither Sasuke nor Kagome were paying attention to what he was saying.

"I think we should go after Shikamaru's team first. He's lazy." Kagome said randomly, thinking of the heaven scroll that they were handed after they turned in their forms. Just grab an earth scroll and go!

"Hn." Sasuke nodded from the other side of the raven-haired tenshi. "But, if anything they'd probably target us first because we have Naruto." he let his gaze slip from Kagome's face to Naruto's.

"I almost forgot!" she muttered, slapping a hand to her forehead and letting it slide down her face. "Everyone's going to be coming after us. Even Sakura-chan might target us!"

Naruto just glared at Sasuke for bringing it up. '_Stupid teme._'

Somewhere around the Forest of Death, at Gate 15, the grass ninjas that caused a scene earlier were also waiting to be admitted into the Forest of Death. They were all crouched down in their waiting positions while all staring at the Gate with faces of thinking. It was the least they could do really; they were all thinking that this test was too simple for their liking. They might as well do as the instructions had permitted; anything goes.

"Let's target the rookies first; they'll be the easiest!" one of the crouching ninjas said with malicious enthusiasm.

The feminine looking one commented: "We'll get their scrolls in no time—anything goes, right?" her hand was tilting her grass hat down to cover some of her face from the sun, or whatever it is she was trying to hide it from. Her teammates were still staring at the gate, and just nodded their agreement.

With Squad Nine, Sakura and a lightly tanned boy with shoulder length dark brown hair that was pulled into a short high ponytail and his bangs cut short and across his face, a dark green fishnet shirt and black leather jacket that had short sleeves with dark gray loose-fitting shorts that ended past his knee-caps with both of his legs wrapped with white tape and the standard blue ninja sandals were holding each other's hands tightly. His hitai-ate worn tied around his forehead. His kunai-holster was on his left leg and his shuriken pouch was hooked onto the back of his shorts on his right side. He had a chain linked single bladed silver scythe strapped to his waist in the back by a lighter green obi than his shirt. And on his face he wore a small smirk to fit his mood. "We'll be fine, Sakura."

"Kohaku?" she looked at him with uncertain green eyes before gaining a face of bravery, for him if not for anyone else. "Yea…you're totally right! I knew that." '_It's just this test; there are some creepy people in it…_'

Kohaku just smiled at her before letting her hand go, receiving a smile in return from Sakura.

"Satoshi, who do you think we should go after first?" he asked his other teammate who standing stoically off to the side with a face of thought, that is until he was rudely interrupted.

"The raven-haired girl." he said coldly.

Sakura mentally gasped as her eyes widened. '_NO!_'

Over with Squad seven; the guy in front of their gate unlocked the gate letting the chain and lock fall to the ground in a clump and turned back to them with his hands clasped behind his back. His face was grave as he looked over the members of team seven. They wouldn't make it, if it were up to him and his opinions that is.  
>Kagome smiled a small smile while she stared at the guard man. '<em>This should be easy enough. Get someone's scroll; get the heck outta here before anyone get's a chance to target us.<em>'

Sasuke smirked. '_I won't let her out of my sight._' He thought thinking of Kagome, and his plans for later after they get to the tower.

Naruto wore a foxy grin while looking past the guard with vibrant blue irises that promised a surprise. '_We've got to pass this test! Believe it!_'He wanted to target the people who were targeting them; it was only fair. Since those people were simply underestimating his team, why not go after them?

Anko was paying close attention to the clock somewhere on the field near the front of the Forest, when the time ticked two seconds by. "Alright! Heads up you maggots!" she shouted. "The second part of the test has begun!"

Everywhere everyone's guards for their gates swung the gates open for their candidates to enter the forest with everyone looking even more ready than before. And as soon as the gates were swung open everyone ran inside, already beginning their journey.

The three creepy grass ninjas ran inside the forest, all intent on the goal that they'd made between themselves other than the goal that had been originally given. They have something important to do that is much more important than passing this test. Who cares if they become Chuunin, when they could get something much more valuable than an official rank from this exam? It was only common sense to them. Something a lot of people would have done; not that other people are being given that chance. So they kept running to get where they needed.

"You know who we're after right?" the feminine one asked, with her hand on her straw hat again, still running.

"Yea, those three brats." the one without a mask answered from the left side of the woman.

Squad seven walked into the gate and just stood there. Yes, they just stood there. Not really thinking about the time limit. They were just standing. No need to get moving right now, so they could be done when they could be done. Nope. They just had to stand there like they usually would. Seriously. Why aren't they running? Kagome just had to think about that.

"Oh yea!" Naruto shouted, fist pumping the air. "Here we go guys!"

Team seven finally began to walk. Sasuke leading with Kagome and Naruto planking his sides in silence and nerves for the moment, and when they had walked for at least five minutes, they heard something that made them all stop and turn in the direction of the noise. It was a helpless yell. Kagome smirked.

"Wow. Already?" she asked rhetorically with both of her eyebrows raised. They haven't even been in here for a full five minutes yet! Whoever caught those people sure does work quick!

Sasuke just smirked and turned back around, along with Naruto and Kagome following him. "Hn."

"What was that?" Naruto asked.

"Looks like someone was already targeted." Kagome answered with a thoughtful look on her face. '_It shouldn't be long before people come after us. Though, I'm kind of counting on it._' she smiled.

Naruto put his hands behind his head in a clasp, while squinting his eyes closed. "Well, this is going to be a piece of cake!" he grinned foxily, and he stayed like that for a moment before his bladder seemed to burst, and he turned around with a rushed expression on his face so that he was facing the tree, and away from his female teammate's eyes. "Uh, excuse me for a second, I gotta, you know." He began to work at his zipper, fumbling around with it clumsily. Not even noticing the steam that was coming from Kagome's head.

Kagome growled, with a small blush on her cheeks, and she formed a small mud ball in her hand after a few choice seals before she chucked it at his back with a resounding clump. "Go in a bush or something!" she snarled. She doesn't have time for this. Especially seeing Naruto use the bathroom in front of her! What's wrong with him! Doesn't he ever think? That is just downright rude.

Naruto walked off into a nearby brush after Kagome's outburst, and Kagome and Sasuke waited around for him. Kagome kept staring at Sasuke with blank eyes while Sasuke waited with his eyes closed and his back leaned against a tree with a little blush on his face. And, yes he could feel Kagome's eyes on him, that explains the blush blooming around his face, and the small self-conscious thoughts that were running through his mind, the ones that were like: '_Is there something on my face?_', you know, that sort of thing.

After about five to six minutes of quietness later, Naruto came out sighing in relief with his hands behind his head and his eyes squinted, and his kunai holster on his left leg, whiskers still on his face, blonde hair still in tact, blue Konoha hitai-ate still on his forehead, but the one thing is; Naruto's not left-handed. Is he? Bing! Kagome sat up and exchanged glances with Sasuke.

"Oh, man. That was a lot!" Naruto said. "I wrote my whole name!"

Sasuke nodded his head at Kagome, giving her an 'okay' to her silent question, before she jumped out of sight and into the brush. Sasuke then appeared behind 'Naruto' and brought his leg up, causing Naruto to turn his head to look at him, as Sasuke kicked him in his chin. The kick sent him flying backward and into the tree after turning a backward somersault in the air, hitting his back all along the tree. Naruto rubbed his face where he was kicked at when he recovered from the shock of being assaulted. "What the heck was that for?"

Sasuke didn't answer, and remained silent as he kept coming at him with taijutsu punches and kicks, and Naruto finally had it up to here with the assaults and dodged his attacks.

Somewhere in the bushes near Sasuke and 'Naruto', Kagome had found Naruto tied up and in a tree with his mouth taped shut. How he had managed to let that happen; she doesn't even want to know. Whoever was imposing him must have gotten him when he was …. Uh, you know. And was really stupid enough to not even pay attention to what he was wearing either. That just tells her that they weren't very bright.

"How did you let this happen?" Kagome questioned him while she untied him.

Naruto only answered when the ropes and tape fell from his mouth after Kagome's miracle hands had released their prison. "I was peeing!" he answered with a semi-quite shout.

Kagome scrunched up her nose as she looked back and him, before shaking her head. "Oh well. Let's go, Sasuke is gonna need help." They walked back into the clearing where Sasuke and the guy had finally stopped fighting, and the guy had revealed his face to be some rain ninja in a pale yellow full body suit, a silver mouth guard that screwed with his voice when he speaks, and a white mask that was limited to his eyes only.

"Alright, you brats caught me." he said statically.

"Your transformation jutsu is worse than Naruto's." Sasuke retorted.

"Hey!" Naruto complained.

"He might not be alone." Kagome commented, while taking the position of looking for the guy's teammates.

"Wouldn't you like to know." the ninja said. "Look, you should just hand over the scroll or else!" he threatened.

"You'll do what?" Kagome dared. Her eyes were itching to glow just a little bit, just to knock this guy down a few pegs, and take whatever scroll he's packing. Cause, seriously, at the moment the numbers weren't looking good for him. It's three against one.

All three of team seven pulled out a kunai, and had it ready.

"So, which one of you has it?" the ninja asked eyeing Kagome and Sasuke, he already checked Naruto. Already knowing that Naruto didn't have it. Not one of the three Genin answered his question, causing him to get mad. "Well. Fine then, I guess I'll just have to take you all out!" and he came running at them.

Sasuke flew through his jutsu's hand seals. "Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!" he yelled jumping into the air, in a crouch while spitting fire ball comets at the guy, missing him and digging themselves into the ground making craters appear.

Kagome stood by Naruto with wide eyes. "That was quick and to the point." she muttered, eyeing Naruto.

"Well, let's not just stand here!" he put up his favorite hand seal, as he shouted. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Kagome sighed before she just ran after Sasuke and the foreign Nin with Naruto by her side, her kunai still in hand, and Naruto's pack following after them. This would have been easier if they had limited the battle to one area only.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" they heard Sasuke shout. When that missed, Sasuke and the ninja jumped in the air again, with their kunai clashed against each other where they met, both promising each other's death.

Kagome decided to intervene at this point; knowing that Sasuke and the Rain Nin were probably going to back up to recuperate for a moment after running around in circles dodging each others' attacks and starting their own.

She flew through two hand seals and her hands glowed electric blue, with small bouts of electricity flowing in them and completely covering her kunai, and then she added more chakra to her feet, running faster to where the Nin was about to land. When he did land he had a lot of kunai in his hands.

"Better keep your mind on the game!" he growled, throwing every kunai to where Sasuke landed, on a tree branch opposite to his at least a yard away.

Sasuke was smirking as he dodged them all, and landed behind the branch with his hands still hanging on to the branch and his body hanging off, while he stared ahead before he caught sight of the small paper tag with black chakra encoded kanji on it. It was just his luck that he decided to ignore something like that. He should have known!

'_Ugn…A paper bomb!_' he thought with great ire in his mind, while he leapt out of the way, going backward and landing by the real Naruto as the clone Naruto's and Kagome ran toward the grass nin.

Kagome just happened to get near him first, and had her glowing hands and kunai swiping at him. The guy kept dodging each hit; she'd hit right, he'd move left. She'd punch left, he'd move right. She finally had it, and feigned right with her left hand, causing him to move right and right into her trap, which had her right hand clock his jaw, cutting off his chakra in his chest areas, and turning his head the other direction.

Then she pulled her left hand back and prepared to sock him in his stomach area, but the guy dodged that again, and leapt backwards, with three Naruto clones following after him, and a ticked off Kagome standing back with an irritated expression on her face.

Naruto and the ninja kept leaping around for a minute before they engaged into an all-out taijutsu fight, with Naruto's clones winning, of course. Naruto knocked the guy down to the ground with a few kunai scraping across the grass Nin's face after wearing him out from jumping.

It wasn't a surprise that Naruto's clones weren't tired; he has a lot of stamina.

Kagome, Sasuke and the real Naruto took a few steps closer then with Kagome staying back a little in an erect standing position, and Naruto and Sasuke in a small crouch, while eyeing their enemy carefully as the clones poofed away.

"So, I take it that you _are_ alone?" Kagome asked, staring at the ninja who was too scared to answer. It was a mistake coming here for the scroll that his team needs. These kids were obviously holding back, and they weren't even really trying that hard.

Naruto glared at the ninja, along with Sasuke. Of course they'd come after their team. It seems to be somebody's goal out there. Just to be out there to get team 7, it seems.

"I'm just going to go out on a whim here, but it doesn't look like you're smart enough to have hold of the scroll, since they let you wander off on your own in a failed attempt to steal ours." Kagome continued, spinning her kunai in her hand, which had stopped glowing electric blue when she had backed away from him.

The guy became panicked while he stared at them. "N-no." he stuttered out.

"That's what I thought."

The guy started to look around almost discreetly, and he found a place where he could get away in no time with a simple replacement jutsu. He was just about to go through the seals, but Sasuke had seen through this. Sasuke threw his kunai at the guy pinning him where he was, in his chest, with a face of surprised plastered across the whole front of his head. "W-what are you doing?" he stuttered out staring from the spot where the kunai was in his chest surrounded by his blood, and the three nightmare Genin in front of him.

Kagome sighed. "I would let you go, but… I'm not sure if you'd bring your teammates back with you if you try to come after us again." Kagome paused. "But, you're not even here, are you? You're a substitution. So really there's no point in telling you all of this."

Naruto and Sasuke were surprised; they stared at the substituted clone before it poofed away into thin air, Sasuke's kunai falling to the ground.

"Agh." Sasuke hacked up. "Too bad we couldn't get a scroll right now."

Kagome and Naruto just nodded for the time being. A few minutes later Sasuke had called a team meeting and the three of them were sitting in a triangle on the forest floor facing each other with serious faces as the sky around them befell to dusk, before nighttime.

"That just proves that we can't just trust appearances." Sasuke commented business-like, while eyeing both Kagome and Naruto with a serious eye. "We have to come up with a way of knowing each of us is who we say we are, and not just some imposter using the transformation jutsu."

Naruto nodded his acceptance.

"Right." Kagome commented. "Any plans Sasuke?" she eyed him.

"We need a password." He answered, looking away from Kagome and to Naruto.

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "Like, 'spykids'?" she asked confusedly.

"No!" he said with disbelief.

"Well, what kind of password?" Naruto asked.

"A secret one." Sasuke answered in a thinking posture with his index finger resting on his chin. "Something known only to the three of us. And don't trust anyone who doesn't know it; no matter what."

"Oh." Naruto and Kagome said. "Well what is it going to be?" Kagome continued.

"Okay, listen closely because I'm only going to say this once." he warned them. "The question will be, 'When does a ninja strike?' and the response will be, 'A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike.' Got it?" he looked at them.

Kagome stored it to her memory, and nodded. "Ditto."

"Mhm, Mhm." Naruto nodded. "You got one a little shorter?" he asked nervously.

'_Oh, that's right. Naruto will never be able to remember this._' Kagome frowned.

"No, Naruto. That's it." Sasuke said sternly with a glare toward his rival.

"Just, try to remember it, okay, Naruto?" Kagome asked with bored eyes.

"I got it." he said surely, nodding his head.

'_He didn't._' Kagome thought, mentally sighing.

"I just thought it was going to be a pass_word_. Not a pass _speech_." Naruto glared at Sasuke who just glared back.

Sasuke stood up then, "Alright, then. I'll take the scroll." he said, sticking his hand out for the scroll.

"Wait a minute, Sasuke, I ah-" Naruto was cut off by something hitting him in his face leaving a small stream of blood, causing him to break concentration, and turning his head in that direction; Kagome and Sasuke doing the same thing after they realized what he was staring at. "What was that?"

It took a minute, but finally a huge blast of wind came at them, and hit all three of them head on. Kagome couldn't see. Naruto couldn't either, and Sasuke was trying to see past it. "What is it now!" Sasuke shouted into the wind.

A huge dust cloud formed, covering the entire area where they were at. Kagome couldn't feel anyone beside her; she couldn't feel their presences any more. She didn't count this into anything bad that _could_ _have_ happened. What the heck is going on?

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><p>With the grass ninjas from earlier, dust cleared in front of where the three of them were standing behind a huge crater that was made from the freakish wind. It was definitely unnaturally made. It was made from their chakras by the looks of the size of it. And the shape of it; it looked like part of a tunnel.<p>

But, now they can get to the brats that they were after. Even though two teammates of the team didn't really understand why these specific kids, but they did it anyway, for their enjoyment at least. Who doesn't like picking on helpless defenseless—to them anyway—kids? Weak people…

"Alright, you two fan out into the woods, and keep your eyes open." The femininely one spoke. "I'll handle this, alone." she smirked with mischievous eyes.

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><p>Sasuke was somewhere in the forest by himself under a bush with a kunai ready. It was that freakish wind that told his instincts to kick into gear and get his hind end into a hiding place to wait for whoever had set off the wind. That wind just wasn't natural. And now he has to worry about Kagome and Naruto. Just where were they anyway? That wind must've blown them away; it was hard for <em>him<em> to stand his ground against it.

There's no way Kagome or Naruto gotten around it. It was too freakish to get around.

Sasuke stared straight ahead at the tunnel-like crater in front of the bush that he was in with a face of seriousness, and eyes filled with worry. He really does hope Kagome's alright. He doesn't care if she has that weird doujutsu, she isn't invincible! She can still get harmed. He frowned in desperation.

'_I just hope you're alright, Kagome._' He thought. _'…and Naruto._' He added mentally with a tad bit of regret. He can't go another day without actually caring for his teammates because he does care a small bit about Naruto as well….as his rival of course.

Sasuke was then brought out of his thinking when he felt a strong and powerful presence nearing him; they weren't even trying to hide themselves like the Jounin he knows. And this power was beyond the power than that of a Jounin. There's no way he could win if he got caught.

'_But I can still try!_' he thought aggressively, gripping his kunai.

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><p>Kagome was behind a tree, using a hidden shadow jutsu to hide herself; she knew that if she saw Naruto or Sasuke all she'd have to do is look at them, instead of asking them the silly question. Why go through the trouble of that, when she can tell people's aura's apart? And she knows Naruto and Sasuke's auras like the back of her hand, of course. If anyone tried to pull one over on her with the transformation jutsu, she could just stare at them to know it isn't Sasuke or Naruto.<p>

Kagome was snapped out of her reverie when she heard a few soft footfalls, courtesy of focusing her chakra to her ears. She's going to have to be on guard. When she saw that is was only Naruto, she released the jutsu, and walked out from the trees with a cautious smile on her face.

"Hey, Kagome-chan! Kagome-chan! Are you alright?" the blonde said enthusiastically, beginning to run to her from the yard of distance that was put between them.

'_Why not humor me?_' she thought. "Halt—what's the password?" she asked sternly, causing him to come to an abrupt halt on one foot before putting his foot down to catch himself so he wouldn't fall.

"Oh, right. Right! Uh…A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night. That is the moment for a ninja to strike!" he finished with a foxy grin.

Kagome just smiled back, letting go of the cautiousness for a moment.

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><p>Sasuke was still in the spot he was in, gripping his kunai with a death grip. Someone was coming, and it sure wasn't Kagome or Naruto. Their power was just too much! Probably even more than the Hokage's himself! Well, probably. If he wins this battle, and that's a big if, he could become even stronger than he'd imagined! He could protect Kagome with everything he's got from his brother. He could defeat his brother with all that he's gained. And if what he's guessing is true, he could copy all of their jutsu. But that's still a big if.<p>

He's still rolling on chances here. He needs a plan. A hide, and cower plan, or a fight and win plan. Either way, he's planning on living through this battle, and passing this test to become stronger. And if he has to fight something practically impossible to beat, then he'd do it.

Sasuke stared in the direction that he felt the oppressing power. Just who has that much power? It couldn't be anything human. Well, it could… just he doesn't believe it is.

When he heard the foot fall, his guard when up even higher, and he began glaring at the spot where he sensed the power, in a crouch in the bushes, still holding his kunai like his life depended on it. And when the person whom the footsteps and power belonged to stepped into view, Sasuke's jaw dropped to the ground in a snap.

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><p>Kagome dropped her smile in exchange for a blank face, while Naruto just stared at her with a confused face at her change of attitude in just that split second. But, who cares if she get's people to believe that she's just bipolar? Then she pursed her lips while staring at him with a calculating eye. "This won't do."<p>

"What are you talking about, Kagome-chan?" he asked with huge innocent cerulean blue eyes.

"That question really was unnecessary." she told him emotionlessly.

"I knew that you knew it was me!" he shouted, obnoxiously, with a heart filled grin, and hearts in his eyes.

Kagome smirked, and shook her head. There was nothing really to say to that, except something that would actually fit what was going on: she might as well spill what she knows to the favorable blonde.

"More like, I knew that you aren't you." she chuckled. "You know, Naruto never would have remembered that password. Heck, I couldn't remember it myself; but when you just said that; I just had a memory rush. Naruto wouldn't have gotten that. And not only that, but your aura is completely different, your chakra as well. Naruto has two chakras. You have one, and it's that of a highly skilled Jounin, or possibly around Tsunade-sama's chakra. At least somewhere around Kage-level. But at least your transformation was better than the last guy's. You probably could have fooled me." she paused. "IF you didn't remember the password and if you were able to change your aura."

'Naruto' was shocked for a second before he smirked himself, and licked his lips with an unnatural tongue, for a human. "Hmm." he chuckled, before a huge puff of smoke and a small quake of the earth took place in front of Kagome where 'Naruto' was standing.

Kagome did nothing though and just waited for the smoke to clear.

When the smoke did clear, it honestly surprised her who it was.

It was that grass ninja that commented on her speed earlier that day. What does he want? Why didn't he go after Sasuke? She doesn't have the scroll.

"But, tell me." The feminine, taller and older ninja said. "If your friend is that dimwitted, and couldn't remember a simple password, why did your other friend make it that difficult?" she asked. She wore a plain tan dress-like outfit with slits going up her legs that revealed green legging things that went past her shins and into her ninja sandals. Under the top half of her outfit she wore the same colored green shirt that appeared under the dress's short sleeves, and in the U-neck of the dress. Around her waist she wore a thick lavender rope-obi that was tied in a huge bow in the back of her. She had long black hair that reached past her shoulders and it looked like she also had pitch black eyes, Kagome couldn't tell, because she was wearing a shady tan straw hat. And her aura was disgusting. If Kagome wasn't so controlled in fighting others, she would have puked her guts out. If this were some _other time_, she would have puked her guts out.

"I don't know; I'm not the one who came up with it." she said coldly. "And he's not dimwitted. He's just ignorant." she glared at the woman/thing. "And besides, it was probably meant for someone who was listening in on our conversation. Not really for us. Looks like you've stumbled into his trap." she smirked, and then shivered.

The woman took her hat off. "Now, I'm impressed. Seems like neither of you have dropped your guard, have you?" she asked with her face partially hidden. Kagome didn't answer and waited for this woman to strike her with an attack already.

"This promises to be very entertaining." The woman said with a small undertone of hissing in her voice before she licked her straw hat's edge.

Kagome just blinked at her trying to hold in her disgusted expression.

* * *

><p>Naruto was up against a tree with his rear end in the air pressed against the tree and his back on the ground with his arms spread out around him. There was a huge trail that looked like that of a huge worm's that led to where he was now. There were also small dust puffs coming from where his body touched the ground. And his orange jumpsuit was dirtied from the amount of dust that his body had picked up.<p>

He groaned from his awkward position, blinking his eyes after the dust cleared, and bent his right arm to his left side in an attempt to get up. "Okay, upsy daisy!" he used his arm and legs to swing over to his right and rolled over successfully. "Huh?" he looked around confusedly.

Where were his teammates? He was just with them two seconds ago! Maybe they went to see what that crazy wind was? And they decided to leave him, because he's the strongest and can stand up for himself, and Sasuke-teme is too weak to do anything on his own and decided to take Kagome with him.

Or maybe, Sasuke took Kagome and decided to ask her out before he did!

That Bastard!

He thought about that for a second before realizing that this wouldn't be the most romantic of places to ask a girl out, so that probably didn't happen at all. But he couldn't really come up with anything they might be in—

OR—they might really be in trouble! '_Oh, no!_' he thought, refusing to believe that they were in trouble. They're strong! There's no way they're in trouble right now!

"Hey, where did Sasuke and Kagome go?" he leaned to the ground as if he was going to find them there. "I wonder if they—huh?" He looked up as he heard a crash that was coming near him from the direction of the way he slid. Whatever it was' shadow was over shadowing his entire body and the skid mark. "Whoa! That-that-that's…" he trailed off. '_That's a big snake!_' he screamed in his head with wide eyes staring at the huge puke and forest green serpent that was slithering toward him swishing his tongue out of his mouth back and forth with eyes that were trained on Naruto's form.

The snake was going to use its' head; on Naruto. He slammed his head into the tree, and Naruto was lucky enough to get out of the way soon enough and dodged it. But then Naruto found himself with the snake coiled around him in a tight, unfriendly embrace.

"Agh. I…" Naruto gasped. "Can't move!" he shuddered out. Before the snake bent down and swallowed him whole with Naruto still screaming.

* * *

><p>Sasuke was shocked, and surprised, and almost stuttered out his confusion. This guy was the source of power that could almost make him bow down to him? His power feels stronger than the Hokage's. Well, like he'd thought earlier, almost. But that's not the only thing that surprised him here. Matter of fact, he wasn't really thinking about that at all really. He was thinking about the guy's face. He's seen this guy before; in Konoha! Matter of fact; he lives in Konoha. That would explain why Sasuke had seen him in Konoha a lot of times. He was the guy that hardly ever talked to anyone—much like himself—but of course, stronger. Sasuke frowned deeply, almost dropping his kunai from his surprise.<p>

This guy was Sakura's teammate.

That Taisho guy, Satoshi Taisho.

But what is he doing by himself? Sasuke could probably take him on, even though the guy looks older than him by a good four to five years, and looks like he'd worked out more than him. But, you know, don't judge a person by their looks. Lee had taught him that the other day… His eye twitched.

Oh, yes. He could probably take this guy despite the unknown risks. It's worth the risk. Even though he really did need to find Kagome and Naruto…

"Are you going to come out, or are you just going to keep hiding?" the boy asked stoically with a face of indifference.

'_So he did sense me…_' Sasuke thought, narrowing his eyes.

* * *

><p>Kagome stared at the womanthing with blanked out hazel eyes, still calculating her chances. This woman probably isn't even a Genin what with the power that Kagome sensed coming from her. It was puke-worthy and chill-promising that would all end in someone else's death. She probably wouldn't be able to take this woman on. No…. she wouldn't think like that, even though it was true, because she _is_ all alone. She mentally sighed.

The woman pulled out a scroll that just happened to be the one that Kagome's team needed. And she, also with blank eyes, finally spoken again. "Ah, you'd love to get your hands on our Earth scroll wouldn't you, Kagome-chan?"

"I could really care less if I get that scroll right now; but I do know one thing." Kagome glared at the name that the woman affectionately called her. "I'm coming out of here alive."

The woman smirked, and didn't answer for a minute, taking the scroll and holding it up higher and let her extended tongue hang out of her mouth disturbingly before wrapping it around the scroll partially and bringing it into her mouth. Then she held up her hand and pressed her palm to the bottom of the scroll pushing it down further into her body.

Kagome looked even more disturbed and she turned an unhealthy green color. "That's sick." she muttered.

The woman smirked at her comment but held her palm in front of her face, while she kept her head down and her eyes shaded, and continued what she was saying earlier other than retorting to her insult. "Well, you see you have something I want, and when this is all over," she licked her lips. "I'll have what it." She snapped her gaze up to meet Kagome's with her fingers digging into her eye lids pulling them down to reveal a snake-like eye. "Eventually."

Kagome was now confused for another time in her life. What could this woman possibly want from her? She doesn't have the scroll or anything of high values worth that anyone could really take. "I beg your pardon?" Kagome said with wide confused eyes.

The woman didn't answer and instead just stared into Kagome's now terrified eyes as she showed her a vision of her death. Kagome's blood splattering everywhere, her body flying in one direction, and a kunai being embedded into her forehead. It was a quick death; a quick vision too.

Kagome was shocked. Yes, shocked, that was scary. She already released it the moment the woman casted it. It was an illusion. It had to be. She doesn't want to die like that. '_I'm not going to die like that._' Kagome thought, running it through her mind thoroughly just to make sure that she get's the point. This woman is creepy, that's for sure. But Kagome's seen it all; in the Feudal Era. Now what's this about the woman wanting something that she has?

She had shadows under her eyes from seeing what she had just seen but she stood straight and standing still staring at the woman with shaken eyes and a frown on her face as she mulled over what this woman could possibly want if she knew that Kagome didn't have the scroll.

'_Hm… she can stand even after I've shown her that?_' the woman thought respectfully. She just stared at Kagome evenly, even though she was starting to panic on the inside of her mind. Well, not like someone who was mindlessly weak and was worrying about their life, but more like those of someone whose plans were starting to change spontaneously, and a little to quickly for their liking. 'He_ said that I have to get it; but how? Will it even work?_'

Kagome breathed a small breath, still shaking and a little greener than before, still trying to shake it off. She really wishes that Naruto and Sasuke were still here; who is she kidding? She wishes InuYasha were still with her. She wishes that there was just someone present or Feudal era wise to help her get through this. It reminded her of being in the Priestess's cave a year ago with Kikyou. That wasn't very different from this situation, if she thought about it hard enough.

'_Wait! That's it!_' Kagome thought with a grin on her face now. '_Her aura…it's impure!_' she thought, pulling out one of the scrolls that were strapped to her waist. And throwing it to the ground in front of her, getting into a crouch, while keeping her eyes on the woman that so much reminded her of a snake at the moment.

The woman was now confused. What was this little girl grinning for? She just saw her death, and she's grinning. It was already weird that she had almost enough power to leave a scar on her body, but not enough to kill her, fortunately. And then added to the fact that she could still stand '_Even after she was put under my genjutsu._' the woman thought. She's unbelievable, remarkable, even. If she was still looking for what she had been, she would have immediately chosen her and her other teammate, but she's not, which is a pity.

"Who are you?" Kagome asked curiously from her spot on the ground. The scroll was professionally laid out in the grass before her, when she did one hand seal and a puff of smoke appeared, covering it up completely. After it had cleared it revealed a quiver of gray and black arrows and a long silver bow that was stringed with a thin wiry black string.

The woman paid no attention to Kagome's weaponry and just blinked at her before smirking. "People call me, Orochimaru."

'_Big snake…_' Kagome thought. "So; what do you want?" she asked calmly, while standing up with her bow in hand and her quiver strapped to her back and the scroll wrapped up and put away.

The woman smiled even more. This was going to be a challenge. "Hm… it appears that you_ are_ a miko." she looked at her thoughtfully, but didn't answer her. She doesn't need to answer the brat. She's going to get what she wants, and this little girl just happens to have it.

* * *

><p>Sasuke had come out of the bushes, and was now staring straight at the older boy, Satoshi Taisho with an arrogant smirk on his face. "Hn. You didn't even disguise yourself or even use a transformation jutsu to disguise yourself as one of my team." He said arrogantly, not even thinking about what this guy's response would be to his attitude.<p>

"Human, I do not need to disguise myself for I am stronger than any that walks this forest ground." he glared at Sasuke for implying that he would try something as dimwitted as that. Only a ningen would try something that weak. "If I had wanted the scroll you carry, all I would have had to do was attack without the pretenses of being your ally."

Sasuke blinked. Another arrogant Leaf Genin. How terrific. "Hn." He replied pulling out one of his kunai; hot even noticing that Satoshi had two swords strapped on the sides of his pants that were hidden from view. But that's probably why; they were hidden from view. "Then why did you come out here alone?"

Satoshi regarded the boy with a small smirk; he knew who he was. The Uchiha kid who's clan was massacred by his own older brother. He mentally snickered a bit at that. He didn't like his _own_ brother, and the other Uchiha had killed his entire clan only leaving his younger brother alive. It was very… human, and petty. He never could understand it, not even when he was at home with his little, human, sister. Even though he wasn't related to her, he still thought of her as a sibling, because she cared for him. But that was long ago that they had met. This is now, and he couldn't stop the curiosity from bubbling up in his chest. "Uchiha. The ningen who's brother slain his entire clan."

Sasuke glared, before charging at him head on with his kunai held in front of him. How dare he talk about it like he knows what happened? Who does he think he is!

* * *

><p>"Let me out of here!" Naruto yelled from inside the snake that swallowed him whole, kicking and stabbing its' insides with his kunai. He was being squished with the snakes pink organs that were tainted with green poison. "I'll make you sorry you ever swallowed me you stinking—Agh! Ugh!" he grunted still stabbing at a specific part of the snake's insides.<p>

He tried stabbing the pink gummy thing harder, but his kunai just wouldn't pierce the object. "Let me—out!" he gasped out, still stabbing before giving up on that. "Oh, wait a second, here. Wouldn't you rather have…" he stopped stabbing and reached into his shuriken pouch that was still strapped to the back of his waist and pulled out a rice ball. "This?" he held it against the pink thing. "I was saving this rice ball for lunch." he offered it to the snake that had swallowed him whole, but it slipped out of his hands and slid down the pink stuff that he was surrounded by, and landed in a crook that was at least a foot away.

Naruto was staring at it with hopeful eyes watching, until he saw the green stuff completely cover it and finally disintegrate it into nothing.

Naruto gasped. "It's gone! If I don't get out of here, I'll be digested just like that in another minute!" he panicked and yelled as the snake pushed him a little bit lower in his stomach, letting him slide on the green and pink stuff. "N-No! Let me out! Kagome! Sasuke! Get me out of here!" he yelled while sliding deeper into the snake's belly.

* * *

><p>The woman laughed before smirking again and grinning at Kagome with wild, wanton snake's eyes. Kagome wasn't sure what was going on but she notched her arrow on her bow, aiming for the psycho woman that was staring at her head on. "I'm not sure exactly what <em>I<em> have that _you_ want… maybe you should enlighten me?" she asked shakily, finally letting a small bit of her fear appear in her voice. She just hopes this would work.

The woman just stared at her for a long while. Her eyes dancing with want for whatever she was wanting at the moment. But, even though these eyes were snake's eyes, they eerily reminded her of Naraku's crimson arachnid's eyes. A want for power was always hidden in his irises; power that was strictly kept away from him for a good reason. But, no; Naraku did practically everything he could for power.

And he almost succeeded. Almost, until he was killed off and kept prisoner in the Shikon no Tama. It was a long chronologic fight, but they got through it. If she could do that, then she should be able to do this, right? Kagome was still thinking about the final battle for a few more moments until the crazy woman with the disgusting aura and chakra finally spoken, bringing her out of her secluded and safe-havened mind with wide eyes at what her answer was.

"Miko-chan you're keeper of the jewel, no?" the woman purred.

Kagome's eyes almost rolled out of their sockets with how wide her eyes were. She didn't even have the energy to gasp. Of course! Why didn't she think of that? She honestly almost completely forgot about the jewel that she just happened to have in her person. How did anyone find out that she had it in the first place? The only people who knew that she still had it, was her friends in the feudal era! And Hokage-sama, of course. She had to tell him everything. Maybe someone over heard? "I don't have it." she stuttered.

"Oh, but you do, Kagome-chan." the woman said in a more masculine voice, putting her right hand near her forehead, digging her nails into the skin there.

"No, I'm sorry you're mistaken." Kagome eyed the woman's hands, carefully watching what she was going to do next.

The woman dug deeper into her skin, ignoring what Kagome had said. They sensed the power of the Jewel earlier, there's no use in arguing about it. She gripped the skin with her nails tightly, and gave it a gentle tug causing the skin that was there to move where she needed it to; coming off with her hand, and she peeled the skin off completely, holding the skin in her hand away from her face; which was now pale and more manly than her gender or voice from earlier.

'_Is he a man or a woman?_' Kagome thought. '_Is_ _he even human anymore?_' she couldn't help it—words just slipped out of her mouth without her supervision or her filtering them, "What are you?" she spat out rudely. But she can dwell on her bad manners later; she could end up dead after this encounter, and that's a much more urgent situation than worrying about offending her enemy.

'Orochimaru' didn't answer, but instead eyed her with a calculating eye before he spoke. "Fortunately for you, Miko-chan… I can't kill you." he hissed between his smile. His face was sheet-pale, he had defined cheekbones and snake's scary green eyes, by his tear ducts near his nose's bridge there were purple birthmark markings that looked like thin purple triangles. His hair was still black and shoulder-length, and his clothes were still the same, but all he really did was pull off his face. Or her face… whatever he or she is.

Kagome stared wide-eyed at the man before she let the arrow fly.

* * *

><p>Sasuke and Satoshi were still fighting. If you could call it that. Sasuke would throw his kunai, or punches and kicks at Satoshi and Satoshi would just easily dodge with speed that easily surpassed Sasuke's way over the top. Actually his speed even surpassed Kakashi's or Kagome's, or even Rock Lee's sensei's speed. It was inhuman, to the pure extreme.<p>

Satoshi was surprised that Sasuke could actually keep up with him, and had almost hit him. And he finally let his curiosity get the best of him; he decided to make this an official match; since it wasn't really counting earlier. He was just moving out of the way to demonstrate how superior he is to this human. Now, he will actually accept this boy's challenge. "You have kept up with me this far," he commented nonchalantly, drawing one of his swords at random.

Sasuke glared harder at the boy, pulling out another kunai, not even bothering with ninjutsu; this stronger boy would just knock it away like a bat does a baseball. And probably behead him without even batting a lash. But that didn't stop Sasuke from charging at the boy again, clashing his hand knife with Satoshi's long silver sword with a grey, white, red, and yellow handle. Not that that really mattered. But Sasuke eyed the sword with narrowed obsidian eyes before looking into Satoshi's eyes as the boy shouted.

"Tenseiga!"

* * *

><p>The snake that Naruto was swallowed by was sleeping at the moment deeper into the forest, in the crook and safe-haven of the branches it was nestled in. Naruto was still inside of the snake, with an expression of giving up trying to get out of the Snake's belly.<p>

'_I can't believe it._' Naruto thought, sadly. '_Is this really how it ends?_' He doesn't want to give up! He still has his dream to fight for! He thought of all the people he decided he was going to fight for, as well. '_Iruka-sensei, Old man Hokage, Konohamaru, Kakashi-sensei. Kagome-chan, Sakura-chan_,' he pictured Sasuke, and felt kind of guilty at what he was thinking '_Well, some people I'll miss more than others! I don't know what the guy's problem was! He's always jealous of me! But…still we had our moments._' He thought of the time that they worked together to help Kakashi escape the water prison back at the land of waves. '_In a way, we kind of made each other better, I guess._' Then he thought of Kagome again, picturing her face if she saw him giving up.

"_What do you think you're doing giving up like that!_" he pictured her yelling at him. "_You've got a lot to fight for, and I want to see you fighting, dang it!_"

Naruto pouted for a moment, before he grinned his signature grin. "You got it Kagome-chan! I'm not giving up! No way! Alright, slither-puss!" he put his hands into his favorite hand seal, still smiling mischievously.

* * *

><p>She stared straight at the manwoman. She can't believe that she missed. _She_ missed. What? Was she going blind now? She missed the freaking target that wasn't even moving, except coming toward her. What good is she now? She can't even save herself or the jewel for this one moment! This is an epic fail. She actually shot her arrow and _missed_. The arrow actually flew on by the man; he didn't even dodge. [She isn't sure what to call IT.] That was truly pathetic for her to be a good archer, and just miss the target that was staying in place.

The man/woman stared at her with malicious snake eyes, and a small insolent smile on their face. "You missed, Gome-chan."

That pushed her buttons.

"It's Kagome. Not miko, Gome-_chan_ or Kagome-_chan_," she snapped with her brows furrowed in an angry expression as her eyes were narrowed. She just wishes Sasuke or Naruto would just show up and help her like the teammates they were.

The man shook his head and smirked at her, holding his hands up in a hand seal flying through a bunch of other ones.

Kagome activated her Junseirigan, trying to predict what jutsu this man was going to do. Her eyes glowed their sky blue, and her tomoes shined white and her pupils were their usual black, but smaller, once again. Captivating her opponent for the moment.

'_She has it…_' he mentally sighed in appreciation; which Kagome had conveniently heard. '_And it's so far developed already…_'but he went on with his hand seals, not even breaking concentration as he stared at her. '_Oh well, soon enough..._'

Kagome didn't reply, but snarled instead, leaping up into a tree branch that was at least 8 feet up from the ground, and trying to leap away. The man stayed where he was at, eyeing her with amused eyes. "What a fast brat." he muttered.

* * *

><p>The sword kept clashing with the kunai, but in all honesty, Sasuke knew that Satoshi wasn't even trying really. If Satoshi really wanted, he could have cut Sasuke's body in half… But instead he stopped swinging his sword, and let Sasuke do all the fighting.<p>

Right now Sasuke was breathing heavily while staring into the boy's golden eyes. Both had small bruises on their skin, since they both heal a bit faster than others. But neither of them had any real cuts; seeing as their blades didn't even touch each other, butting edges with the other blade, always.

But, Satoshi finally came to a conclusion. He doesn't know why he's doing it, but maybe it was keeping that human girl by his side all these years. He actually pitied the human boy, once he actually thought what he'd been through. And he knows that if his sister been through what the Uchiha boy has that he'd actually be pissed beyond knowledge, and would call for what he knows that the boy is striving for. So, he took mercy on the boy…Might as well grant him what he granted his little ningen sister. "I pity you." he said simply. He might as well grant the kid his revenge because he deserves it, and plus Satoshi's going to need an heir anyways for his throne. "Stand."

Sasuke looked at the older boy with a disbelieving face. "What!" he snapped with angry eyes, at not continuing the fight. He was still sitting; on the branch that he and Satoshi had landed on while they were fighting. It's only because he slipped, that's why he's sitting. He simply slipped. He didn't get tired.

"Do not raise your voice with me, boy." Satoshi said stoically with a look of an elder reprimanding a child.

Sasuke was surprised, and confusedly stood. But what happened next shocked the heck out of him.

Satoshi disappeared and reappeared behind him with his right hand's fingers all folded like he was going to throw up a peace-sign, except his middle finger and index finger which was together like he was going to poke something, and they were glowing an eerie green with his claws that were carefully hidden, fully extended. Satoshi then grabbed Sasuke's left arm and pulled it toward him, causing Sasuke's eyes to widen even more than what they already were, but otherwise he did nothing.

'_I-can't move!_' he thought frantically. '_He's probably going to kill me right now… he said he pities me…_' he glared, frowning; eyes still wide.

'_Chi no kizuna no seremoni!_'**(1)** Satoshi thought, letting his eyes glow their crimson, before sticking his glowing clawed fingers into Sasuke's wrist, and dragging it around in a shape of a crescent moon, letting Sasuke's grey and blue arm warmers fall to the ground in tatters.

When Satoshi snatched his hand away, it revealed a red crimson crescent moon on the inside of his left wrist laid right on the skin that covered one of his veins that went to his wrist. Sasuke's eyes grew even wider; what the heck did he do to him?

"By the way, It's Sesshoumaru-sama to you." 'Satoshi' spoke to the boy referring to when they were fighting and Sasuke kept calling him 'Taisho' or 'Satoshi'. "And when you happen to find your ningen teammate, deliver her a message for me."

'_I hope he means Naruto, because I'm not telling Kagome about him…_' Sasuke thought with a scowl. "W-what are you?"

"Daiyoukai." was '_Sesshoumaru-sama_'s' reply.

'_Demon lord?_'Sasuke thought confusedly as he watched Sesshoumaru walk away with his head held high. "Hn." he muttered. '_He could have at least gave me the message first!_'He growled in frustration, feeling an itch form on his left wrist.

* * *

><p>"Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto yelled from inside the snake that he was in. It took only a few seconds before a bunch of clumps widened the snake's sides out. And an even longer few seconds before Naruto's clones made the snake's body explode.<p>

When the explosion was done, a bunch of Naruto's was standing on the ground covered in snake spit, but that didn't deter any of the Naruto's. "Sorry, but you messed with the wrong shinobi! I'm going to be Hokage someday!" he eyed the beheaded snake that's head was on the ground covered in blood, and severed from its body. "If you think that I'm going to end up a pile of snake crap in the woods, you're crazy!" he said, holding onto his head band, still staring at the snake's severed head.

Kagome was high in a branch, looking down at the Ninja that has made it a point to stalk her every move in this ungodly hour. He wasn't far from her from what she could tell. Her doujutsu was still glowing in it's pride, and she wore a frightened, but determined face. She won't give up; Naruto and Sasuke have to pass this test, and frankly they can't do that with her dead.

'_Wait, he said I have to be alive…_' Kagome thought with confused eyes. '_Then why do I feel like I'm going to meet my end?_' she mentally whimpered. "It's alright; if he was near I'd know." Kagome said out loud, putting a clever face on, putting faith in her aura sensing.

But…she didn't even notice that there was someone behind her; inside the tree that she was leaning against. If you can call it that. It looked deformed in a way that it didn't even look like a tree. It was ridiculous how she didn't even notice it. But she did seem to notice the hiss that was coming from behind her.

She snapped her head in the direction with a face of horror in realization. "Nnggh." she groaned, trying to get away from the tree, and almost succeeding.

"Kagome-chan." There was a kunai by her throat wrapped in a thick, unnatural tongue. "Hold still." Orochimaru purred.

"Ah!" Kagome screamed, leaping away, onto a higher branch.

But that also did little help; the snake-like man just followed after her extending his torso, wrapping himself around the trunk of the branch that she just happened to be on. That just concluded her thoughts about him being part snake. He _is_ one.

He slithered up to where she was, tears finally starting to stream from her eyes from her uncanny amount of fear that was finally starting to overwhelm her. "N-No!" she screamed again, leaping onto a tree that was further away, knowing that it was doing little good.

* * *

><p>Naruto finally made it away from the torn snake and found a clearing that was practically clear at the moment. Save for one person other than himself. The person was staring long and hard at something that Naruto couldn't really tell; it looked like an ordinary wrist to him. But he's just happy to see this person. "Hey Sasuke-teme! Where's Kagome-chan!" Naruto yelled, running to his male teammate.<p>

Sasuke snapped his head up to look at the blonde, his kunai in his hand again… "What's the password?" Sasuke said coldly eyeing Naruto.

"Oh right…" Naruto laughed nervously, "I-uh…I forgot." He finished with a small blush. Now Sasuke's probably going to fight him until he get's a DNA test or something. This is just great. This could take forever.

But Sasuke just lowered his kunai. "She isn't with you?" he asked with eyes filled with worry.

"Huh—I said I forgot—never mind…" Naruto said. "I thought she might have been with you!" he said with the same eyes filled with worry.

Sasuke then just almost lost it. He just kept it inside though, as he spoke in a deathly calm voice. "We have to find—" just then he was cut off by a feminine scream.

A very familiar feminine scream.

"That sounded like Kagome!" Naruto said, with wide eyes getting ready to leap into the trees, with his teammate or not. "And she doesn't sound very far from here." Sasuke nodded his head, and just 'hn'ed before getting ready to go, not even thinking about his torn arm warmer. Sasuke and Naruto then leapt into the trees on a spree to find their lost teammate.

* * *

><p>Kagome was trapped. Both mentally and physically. The snake man finally got her. She had kept leaping away, like the coward she usually wasn't, but he'd finally coiled himself around her like a snake would its prey. She squirmed and cried out. "Let go of me!" she squealed, her voice in it's form because of the oxygen she was practically losing. She couldn't even think from the oxygen loss her face was starting to turn blue.<p>

"This will only take one minute…" he hissed with interested eyes.

A few yards away, in a branch higher up, where neither Kagome nor the snake man had noticed, Naruto and Sasuke were watching with horrified eyes after they had just arrived. What the heck? What is that thing? It was completely wrapped around their teammate and she was crying and screaming uncontrollably, losing her supply of air, turning her face an unsightly shade of blue-green. "Kagome…" Sasuke whispered. "Listen Naruto, we need a plan."

"Mhm." Naruto nodded to his teammate, being unnaturally quiet. His eyes were also filled with concern for his female teammate, what happened to her?

"Let—go!" Kagome hiccupped out with blood-shot eyes from her uncontrolled tears and her losing of oxygen.

The snake guy didn't listen. He has to hurry with this before she dies from the oxygen loss from his body coiling hers until it was completely unusable. He flew threw a few choice hand seals as he opened his mouth wide. '_Cursed seal of Earth Jutsu!_' he thought nearing his head to her collar bone that was exposed. His fangs grew long for at least five seconds and he pressed his face into her neck as his teeth sunk into her skin, putting at least a quarter of his available chakra into that one bite, well trying.

Sasuke and Naruto had to break away from their planning in favor of paying attention to what the man was doing to their Kagome. And what they saw almost had them scared. Who bites people? Was this man deranged? He was biting her!

"What the-?" Naruto trailed off, watching with wider eyes.

Kagome screamed again, this time louder and longer.

When Orochimaru pulled his head away, three black crescent, fingernail shaped marks were on her collar bone, and they spun three times before disappearing completely and being replaced with a white mark. Even though that _really_ wasn't supposed to happen, Orochimaru wasn't surprised. He was actually counting on it.

He smirked as he pulled away, uncoiling himself from Kagome's form, letting her fall to the branch on her knees. The moment that she was released from his grip, her hands flew to her collar bone, on the left side of her neck already clawing at the feeling it was giving her. She glared up at the man, lifting her right hand to wipe the tears away quickly in order to screech at the guy. "What did you do to me?" she croaked out, un-strongly.

"Don't worry, you won't die. You just…" he trailed off, eyeing her with glinting snake eyes. "Might have a few problems." he laughed manically as he started to back away. Not even paying attention to the two other presences in the area that they were in now. But he did hear the yell.

"Now!" came an angry voice.

"Rasengan!" came another angry yell.

Orochimaru looked surprised, and turned to the two voices with entertained eyes. He was surprised to see the black haired kid and the blonde kid together on a higher branch than where he and the little girl were positioned. But he was even more surprised when he saw the technique that the blonde had called forth. The one that everyone would have known so well, but most couldn't even carry out. He blinked. The other kid's eyes were glowing with one of the other most coveted doujutsu that he wanted. '_The Sharingan, he's_ _the Uchiha kid…_' he thought ruefully. He honestly would have been his third choice. Then his eyes slid to Naruto and he eyed the brat's whiskers. "And the nine tails brat." He spoke out loud.

Kagome glared at the man, and she spoke weakly. "Don't call him that!" she growled out. "It's Naruto—" Then she blinked, after realizing what she just said. He's here? She snapped her head up to where the snake was looking, and was relieved, and annoyed to see that Naruto _and_ Sasuke were there. Why don't they go somewhere? Don't get her wrong, she's happy that they can help her now, but she is upset that they aren't trying to save themselves. If she can't fight against the snake, then there is no possible way that they're going to win against him, but they could; with teamwork maybe.

Naruto came running at them with the Rasengan spinning wildly in his hand, after his clone poofed away. His eyes were glowing red, and his whiskers had started to grow more pronounced on his cheeks.

Sasuke beside him stayed where he was at, waiting for Naruto to get rid of the snake man so he can do his jutsu on him, without hurting Kagome.

Orochimaru was surprised that Naruto could do such an advanced jutsu. And he rose his eyebrows as Naruto neared even closer to them. This is interesting. But he might have to put their fight on hold. He mentally sighed. '_And it could have been fun, too._' He got ready to dodge, but was shocked to find that he couldn't move, and that the temperature was starting to drop.

It was the least she could do, what with her chakra reserves finally giving out. She mentally concentrated on the amount of chakra she was using; finding that her heart started to itch with each addition of chakra that she added. '_Ice Style: Ice prison jutsu,_' the ice kept forming around the grass ninja's ankles, but the guy didn't seem panicked at all. Kagome frowned as she concentrated some more, growing more tired as she went.

Orochimaru looked down with disdain on his face. The girl did an ice jutsu on his ankles, and it was holding him in place as the blonde was running toward them. He frowned as he looked at her. He pulled out a kunai and held it to her throat as he bent down to her. "Release it, or you die here." he hissed. He didn't mean it. He needs her alive, plus he could just get away from here easily. But, why not have some fun and put some more fear in her?

"NO!" Sasuke yelled. He dug around in his shuriken pouch, forgetting about his and Naruto's plan that they'd just made. He pulled out their heaven scroll. "This is what you want, right? Just let her go—please!"

Kagome blinked. "He doesn't—" she muttered staring at Sasuke with wide eyes.

Naruto's attack missed anyway, because Orochimaru simply took Kagome by her arms and pushed her down to the trunk with him falling above her, his ankles still shackled to the tree, and the Rasengan hitting the trunk beside the tree they were on, making a huge crater. But Naruto snapped his attention to their other teammate with narrowed angry eyes. "What are you thinking Teme? You aren't going to give up the scroll to our enemy! Maybe you aren't who you say you are! The Sasuke I know wouldn't just hand over the scroll!"

"Shut up, and stay out of it!" Sasuke yelled back.

Kagome was starting to think the same thing as Naruto, especially since he was offering up the scroll to save her life, which isn't really in danger at the moment. Maybe passing this test wasn't as important to him than she thought. "He can't kill me!" she shouted thoughtlessly. "Keep the freaking scroll; stick it back in your pouch, or so help me, I will take it from you!" she glared at Sasuke.

Orochimaru didn't say anything, but got up from his position, leaning over Kagome, and easily released himself from the ice shackles. The team were having a glare show-down, and they weren't even paying attention to him, as he flew though a few hand seals, before a puff of smoke appeared, but that caught there attention.

Kagome snapped her attention to the smoke in front of her with careful eyes, but she moved a little to slow for her liking. But, there wasn't even anyone there. She frowned. "We lost him." She groaned closing her heavy eyelids for a moment.

Sasuke blinked and pocketed the scroll, before leaping over to where Kagome and Naruto were. He quickly examined Naruto with a fast eye, and then he let his gaze rest on Kagome's collar bone with concern clouding his mind. "What did he do to you?"

"I'm not sure yet," she croaked, her eyes were still closed.

Sasuke leaned closer and put his hands on her shoulders, Kagome still didn't open her eyes though, thankfully, because if she did, he would have blushed like mad. But he didn't have time to think on that, he examined her neck first, noticing that there was white scar marks on her neck, and then he moved his eyes to her face again, finally noticing that she was getting paler with each passing minute. Her eyes had bags underneath them now, and they were a purplish color, and her veins in her neck and collar bone were even more visible, as her veins were a lavender color and she was becoming translucent. He was starting to panic now. "Naruto, we have to get her near the river." he said urgently.

Naruto looked to where Sasuke was just looking with wide eyes. "Is she dying?"

"She might be, if we don't get her out of here!" Sasuke snapped.

"Hey… Hey… don't fight." Kagome muttered, opening her eyes a little. "I'm not dying. I'm going to get Hiro, so she can take us to the river nearest to us." she finished before sitting up from laying on the tree. She sighed deeply, still exhausted from whatever it was that the snake did to her, and a small frown of concentration on her face, and she pulled out a scroll and unrolled it

"Who's Hiro?" Naruto said, Sasuke didn't answer and paid more attention to what Kagome was doing.

She pricked her finger with her nail, and went through the proper hand seals slowly, before muttering "Fuuin Style: Summoning Jutsu!" and she pressed her finger to the ground, on the center of the scroll's kanji markings. After she removed her finger, a poof of smoke happened upon the scroll and cleared just as quickly as it appeared, and in its place were three big cats the sizes of tigers.

One was a black cat with huge fangs, crystal-blue eyes, and two tails with a white diamond in the center of her forehead. Then there were two other cats that were white leopards with black spots, and crystal blue eyes as well.

"You've summoned us, Kagome-sama?" one of the leopards spoke in a feminine voice.

"Mhghgm. Etsu," Kagome nodded sleepily. "I need you guys to get us to a near by River. I'll ride Hiro. Naruto will ride you, and Sasuke can ride Kanaye." Kagome nodded to each of her teammates as she said their names.

"It'll be our honor, Kagome-chan." the masculine leopard spoke.

Naruto promptly got on the female leopard, and Sasuke helped Kagome onto the twin tails, deciding to ask her about that later. Once she was securely on, he climbed onto the available leopard with his eyes staying on Kagome, as all three cats took off running. He needs to make sure Kagome is alright when they come to the river, too.

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><p>Somewhere in the Forest of Death there were three Chuunin in the suits examining Buddha statues, while the morning sunshine beamed on them. One of the Chuunin were crouched by a particularly bloody statue, and a body that was wearing a tan dress and green leggings and turtle neck beneath it with a purple rope obi tied around their waist. While the Buddha statue had red blood splatters all on its face.<p>

"This isn't a way to treat a Buddha statue." The one near the statue spoke, the one with black spiky hair and a bandage tied across his nose and face.

"This is some type of kinjutsu, isn't it?" the one with brown hair and a bandana asked, the other guy, who had glasses and shorter brown hair.

"Well, whatever it is, it's a problem. Just when things were running so smoothly… what a drag…" the guy with spiky black hair said."We've got to report this. Go get the proctor."

"Right." The guy with glasses answered, and leapt away to go inform Anko.

He found her sitting on the station sitting down, eating a snack, while minding her own business. "Mm. Nothing makes dumplings go down like a good bean soup." Anko smirked to herself. All the while having her fun listening to the candidates screams. She drank her bean soup, and then removed it from her mouth with a sigh of contentment, and she bit off the last dumpling on her stick, before throwing it into a tree, finishing the design that she was making: a leaf symbol. "There a perfect Konoha symbol." She sighed again in contentment, thinking that she will greet the students at the tower to check on whom all has passed. That is, until someone appeared in front of her in a puff of smoke, cutting her break short.

"Pardon, ma'am." The Chuunin in front of her spoke, from his crouch near the ground. "There's a problem."

"Hm? What sort of problem?" Anko asked, still sipping her bean soup.

"Corpses ma'am!" he answered. Throwing his arms up. "Three of them!"

"C'mon. I'm trying to eat here." Anko grumbled, stuffing another dango into her mouth.

"I think you want to see them! There's something strange about them!" he said urgently.

"Besides being dead?" she asked, putting her index finger to her chin in thought.

A few moments later found the two back where the Chuunin was a few minutes prior to getting Anko. The wind was blowing, and the trees relieved their leaves to the earth, as the five examiners were in the field, near the Buddha statues. Anko stepped forward, looking at the bodies and then the statues that had blood splattered on them.

"We went through there belongings and found identification. They're ninja from the hidden grass village. All three of them were registered for the Chuunin exams. They weren't just killed." The Chuunin with black hair spoke to the proctor.

"All of their faces…" Anko muttered, gritting her teeth and staring at the corpses. "They're gone."

"Yea, there's nothing where their faces used to be, like they melted." the black haired guy replied, with his face scrunched up in disgust, and disbelief. "Or something."

Anko reached for her neck and gripped it. '_No doubt about it_,' she thought tightening her hold on the spot. '_This is _his_ jutsu!_' she thought of _him_. '_What's he doing here in the Chuunin Exams?_' she thought. "Alright, you need to tell Hokage-sama exactly what happened here." she said, ordering them.

"Right." the Chuunin nodded, and leapt away to inform their village leader of the misfortunate events that had just happened here.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>

**(1) translation: Blood Bond Ceremony. [it sounded cooler in Japanese that's why it did it.]**

**So how was it? Was it anything that you were expecting? **

**Well, the next chapter is going to be shorter, it's going to contain the other, not-so-important half of the Forest of Death arch. :) **

**So, review? **


	4. Ch 15 While We're here

**AN: I don't own InuYasha or Naruto. Their rightful owners do, no copyright infringement intended, bla bla bla, you know the drill. **

**This chapter is shorter because it's a filler, and I wanna hurry up and get to the Preliminaries already. Lol, Don't lie, you all were totally waiting for it too. :D **

**Sorry if this chapter isn't as good as the others, I was kind of in a rush to get it done since I haven't updated in like a week maybe?. (: **

**Read and Review? I'm a review hog, I confess! **

**Warning: My iffy [**cough** _BAD_! **cough**] attempt at a fluffy scene. 0.0... I really tried, I did! But I don't think it came out so well, so why don't you guys read and give me your opinions on it, since I'm really not much of a romantic person, lol.**

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><p><strong>Another Warning: This chapter is quick ran... <strong>

**Pages: at least _10 _**

**Words: At least _5,000_**

**You have been warned! **_evil monkey points at you_** lol. :P**

**Read and Review! [Yes, I'm aware that I already said that... Part of the joys of being me!]**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: [chap 15]While we're here, I have to tell you!<strong>

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><p><strong>-With the slayers-<strong>

The wind blew ominously through their hair while small hooting noises were made in the background. It was a chilly night and everyone present were all wearing faces of confusion while they all stared out into the woods around them that was completely black; hiding all of the creeping crawlers in their homes, or hiding places to lure in their prey. Or that's how the group was imagining it, anyway.

What could be going on now? It's been two days since that last attack and they were kind of hoping for a longer break. That was obviously not going to happen. No free time for them, it seems.

They were called on, again because the villagers heard groaning noises coming from InuYasha's forest; the one that just so happens to lure in the creepiest crawling crawlers of all; the demons that were attracted to the aura that once resided there. It was no doubt that they all were drawn here from the lack of the power of the Shikon, and the other demonic presences that kept coming to this forest specifically, which was still near the well.

The woman of the group dropped her confused expression first and turned to the rest of the group with guarded dark brown eyes. "This just doesn't make any sense. Groaning coming from the forest?" she said. "There has to be something up if we keep having frequent demon attacks."

"Sango-chan…" the robed monk said, holding his right hand in front of him, held straight in the air, while his eyes were closed in thought. "My only guess is that whatever these demons are after, it must be big, considering our last battle was two days ago." he frowned and lowered his hand. "I'd suggest that we stay together until we know otherwise."

"Wise monk." Sango muttered, then she looked to the kitten-sized Kirara, the neko-mata of the group, and the four-foot tall Shippo, the kitsune youkai. "I guess we should just-" she was cut off by a loud groaning noise that sounded like it was in pain; and not at all how the villagers had described it as which was 'An angry guttural noise.' But it sounded like whatever it was had gone through with tremendous pain before arriving where they were at.

Sango gripped her Hiraikotsu and ran in the direction of the pain-filled grunts, while the man, Miroku followed with Shippo on one of his shoulders and Kirara on his other. They were running as fast as they could; they had to, though. This could be some man who was severely injured and the villagers had probably just decided to ignore it! But they knew that they should still be at least a little on guard, because demons do like to trick people…hence being the reason that the Slayers were called-merely for precaution, and because people were too damned scared to check for themselves...

As soon as they were close enough to hear the groans clearer, and louder, they came to a sudden stop and slowly walked forward, so as not to startle the injured person…or thing. Sango was first, and Miroku was on her right side, nearest to the one who had made the noise. And when they all caught sight of who the hurt grunts belonged to their jaws all dropped, minus Kirara's [her eyes just widened]. It turns out that there was two people, not just one person, who was injured.

"Kikyou…" Shippo murmured sadly, looking upon the unconscious bodies that were sprawled out near the Goushinboku **(SP? )**tree.

"InuYasha…" Sango and Miroku said with shock still in their voices.

Luckily they were still alive, but what happened to them? Did hell just decide to kick them out? Did the Makai run out of room? Or maybe they're escaped convicts of the torturous fiery prison… They could have sworn that the happy couple jumped into the vortex leading to hell.

Maybe this is what was going on for the past few days?

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><p><strong>-Forest of Death, Squad Seven-<strong>

Like the cats had promised they had Squad Seven arrive near the river in the forest in no time. Right now, all three ninjas were resting under the root of a greenwood tree which was oddly shaped like a tent; like someone from previous tests had used it for shelter like the team was doing right now. Oh, and the wood was _actually _green; a deep forest green, and had a clearing laid out in front of them with other different trees surrounding the area.

The cats; Hiro, Kanaye and Etsu were all guarding the shelter with blank faces while they watched out for team seven until Kagome awoke from her slumber, since both Sasuke and Naruto refused to sleep until she was awake, but that was part of their jobs as taking turns doing watch.

That wasn't the only reason why they wouldn't sleep, though. They didn't know what was up with their female teammate, and they were starting to get even more worried. She's been sleep since they came to the shelter, which was four hours ago, and in that time her skin had changed various colors; ranging from pale to a yellowish-greenish color and back again before resting on a semi-normal color of complexion for her. And Sasuke also noticed that the place where the snake-man had bitten Kagome was completely clear of any foreign marks-white black or otherwise, but the veins in that section were now more visible than the veins throughout the rest of her body. They were pitch black. But that wasn't all that was weird, Kagome kept subconsciously rising one of her hands to scratch at her collar bone where her veins were the blackest, but luckily, Sasuke kept catching her in her attempt and clasped her hands in his tight grasp while staring at her in worry.

Speaking of Sasuke, his wrist; where he had been ruthlessly clawed, gave up on the itching and promptly began burning after thirty minutes into their resting period. He looked about ready to rip his skin off where his marking was placed. And since he had the crescent marking on his wrist, he'd long since decided to move his only remaining arm warmer to where his moon was so that it was completely hidden from his teammates view. He doesn't need them worrying about him too, especially when Kagome is knocked out from what she had just faced not five hours ago.

Naruto just kept looking from Sasuke and back to Kagome before he turned to his only teammate that wasn't sleeping with wide cerulean blue eyes. "So what happened while you were away from us?" Naruto asked curiously, careful to keep his voice low, in consideration of the sleeping form in between the conversing pair. Yes, it was a shocker; Naruto's usually obnoxious… but maybe he's grown since the beginning of their team gathering, since he is being thoughtful as to how Kagome is feeling at the moment. It surprised Sasuke that he was even _able_ to control the volume of his voice.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, not even looking up from where he was looking. "None of your concern." '_What I want to know is why did the snake want her alone?_' he thought ruefully at not being near his teammates right after the attack.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and glared at the black-haired boy, but otherwise said nothing on that matter, and instead deciding to change the subject. He asked what had been on his mind since they sat under these roots, something that really bothered him at not knowing. "Was that snake-thing a woman or a man?"

Sasuke sighed in exasperation before snapping his gaze to his ignorant teammate with annoyed onyx irises. "How am I supposed to know?"

"But, he was a woman at first, right? Before he turned himself into man in a dress? Maybe he's a drag queen."

Sasuke tried to ignore his blonde companion from then on, having had success. Nothing much really happened after that, except Kagome would continue to try to scratch at her neck in her sleep, and Sasuke would grip her hands harder, while glaring at his wrist the whole time; and in doing that Sasuke had been gaining some pretty strange looks from Naruto…

Another hour later Naruto was getting bored, and he almost fell asleep from the boredom. Kagome's skin had gained a small portion of her skin color back and was back to looking a little bit normal, besides the black veins…and Sasuke looked like he was sleep with his eyes open which was kind of creepy to watch for anyone who was watching… He kept lulling his head forward while his eyes drooped closed, and he only caught himself twice as he tried to keep himself awake before he finally let sleep take him. His eyes snapped shut and soon he collapsed on top of Kagome, completely knocked out with Kagome's hands still in his and his head laid on her cushioned chest, breathing out light breaths while falling into a dreamless sleep.

Naruto was dozing off until he heard a 'thump' noise and he snapped his head toward the sound with confused eyes. Well, he was _wide_ awake now. If Naruto had ever felt self-conscious, he wouldn't have remembered it, but this moment takes the cake. Sasuke is making him feel like he's lost a battle that was almost impossible for him to win. Especially with Sasuke just falling asleep on her like she was already his. That was probably why he did it in the first place; Sasuke doesn't want Naruto to have her. Naruto sighed in disappointment, trying not to let his emotions get to him right now.

But if he really thought about it, they really were adorable together. Whether Kagome paid attention or not, he could easily see them together, and not with him in the way. Especially since Kagome was a little too much like him… But seriously, did the teme have to fall asleep on her with Naruto in the same shelter as them! '_Bastard._' Naruto mentally growled with less fervor than normal, and a small smirk on his face. '_Of course he has her._' But he didn't say anything aloud, and decided to let them get their sleep.

But he heard Kagome give out a few grunts and groans which were probably because Sasuke's head was on her chest and she was now having trouble breathing… But, it could also easily be from being bitten by that snake thing. Naruto just watched intently as Kagome started to stir a little more, giving signs that she was conscious at the moment, with hope in his eyes so that he could get his rest as well. And he didn't have to hope for too long, because Kagome's eyes snapped open and revealed bright hazel eyes that were widened in her confusion.

'_Since when were her eyes green?_' Naruto thought confusedly.

Kagome's eyes snapped to her chest, where she felt a heavy weight clamoring her and they widened even more so that it looked like her eyes were going to come out of their sockets at any moment. Then she looked around the tree-shelter that they were in and when she finally found Naruto she sighed in relief. "Naruto-kun." she said groggily, blinking the sleep out of her eyes, and wondering why Sasuke's head was laying on her chest.

"Hm, Kagome-chan?" Naruto's eyes were amused, as he eyed her face as she was flushing a bit and he put on his best foxy-smile, despite the defeated mood that he was in.

"Why is Sasuke-kun laying on me?" she stammered, still blushing.

Naruto thought for a minute about her inquiry. Should he tell her the truth? Or give the bastard what he was wanting all along-his Kagome? He thought some more while looking from Sasuke to Kagome with mischief glinting in his stunning blue eyes. Well, if all ends badly… Why not give the bastard what he wants? Naruto will always have Kagome as his best friend… and he'd still love her-but if this doesn't work he's going to get a good laugh at Sasuke's embarrassment.

He grinned foxily, before replying to her question. "I don't know, Kagome-chan. I think I saw Sasuke eyeing you a lot lately. He did say something about asking a girl on a date…" he trailed off, enjoying the blush that darkened on Kagome's cheeks. "Come to think of it, he hardly looks at any other girl but you." then he rose both his eyebrows like he was innocent and was simply wanting to know what was going on between them. "If I had to guess, I'd say that he loves you so much that he just couldn't bare to let you sleep all by yourself when it's very cold outside." he physically shivered emphasizing what he meant in case she didn't understand. "You could use his body heat." he spoke matter-of-factly, smirking at her again in a wide knowing smile.

Kagome was beet red as she stared down at Sasuke's head with bug eyes. And before she almost past out, she willingly tried to make her blush go away. There was no way Sasuke paid that much attention to her. Or maybe she was just too oblivious to what was going on? She tried to think of all the times that Sasuke hinted at him liking her and the first one that came to mind was when they were fighting for their lives in the Land of Waves. A shiver went down her spine as she remembered him holding her closely whenever she woke-up from her near-death state. But other than that she couldn't think of anything. '_Was there more?_' she mentally asked herself disbelievingly. '_I never really paid attention to anyone other than InuYasha… but after that I guess I just gave up on looking for love completely._' she mentally sighed. '_I'm not taking Naruto's word for it. But I'll at least consider it. I don't want to hurt anyone…_'

Naruto looked at Kagome again with a small hint of sadness in his eyes as he noticed her looking deep off into thought. He didn't want her to think about it just yet, he still wants to know if she'd still love him even if she was with Sasuke. "Ne, Kagome-chan?" he asked softly.

"What is it Naruto-kun?" Kagome asked gently, while moving so that she was sitting up against the inside of the tree hollow, with her back resting against the wall and Sasuke still in her arms so that she didn't jostle him from his deep sleep. Then she raised her eyes to meet his sad ones in shock.

"Would you…lie to me?" the sadness never left his voice.

"No," she replied after a moment of thought. "I wouldn't. Why?"

Naruto continued in what he was saying, he has to get this out of the way right now, before he forgets or gets himself hurt any further. His eyes started to itch a little at the thought of being hurt again, at not having a true friend anymore whenever she does fall for Sasuke… "Do you like Sasuke-teme?"

Kagome's eyes widened. "Yes, but I like both of you," she said, trying to stay on neutral ground, while her eyes were sympathetic at this situation, she's seen it all before… she's lived through it actually.

"Okay…" he drawled out, his eyes didn't leave hers and now his tears were starting to fill his eyes. "Which one do you love more? Me or Sasuke?"

Kagome blinked in confusion. "I don't love either of you more than the other, I love you both the same…" she trailed off in her gentle voice.

"But would you even date me, over Sasuke?…" Naruto asked quietly, letting his tears fall from his eyes.

"Naruto, I love you both so much…" Kagome trailed off with waterworks of her own building up. '_Naruto's already been through so much…_' she thought sadly. "There's no way that I'd intend to hurt either of you. Or anyone else for that matter." she sighed. "Is it already to late for that?"

Naruto didn't reply for a moment, he had to think. Was it too late? Did she already hurt him? The answer to that is no. She hadn't even chose yet, even though he knew her answer already. That made him want her even more… She was thinking of how others would feel if she chose one thing over the other; she isn't even really thinking of herself and her own happiness, but how he'd be if she chose something that he didn't agree with. Naruto smiled a small sad smile, before replying to her truthfully. "No, you didn't hurt me." then he added even more softly, "You were always there for me, I guess that's why I fell for you in the first place…" he spoke while looking down at his hands.

Kagome mentally tried to get Naruto to look up at her, but he didn't. she frowned, not letting the tears fall from her eyes as she spoke. "Naruto, you're not in love with me."

That got his attention. His head snapped up and he looked straight at her with shocked eyes. But he didn't say anything, because he was stunned silent at this moment. How would she know if he was in love with her or not? She wouldn't know how he felt-once upon a time, all the people he's really came close to hating and only the few people he's ever loved. The one person he loves the most…

"You're not in love with me, because I'm sure that there is going to be someone you love much more than myself." Kagome continued as her eyes glazed over like she was remembering something that happened in her past. "Someone that can take care of you much better than I can. But, don't you dare go thinking that I don't love you; because I do. And I'd hurt anyone who hurts you. You know that right?" her voice took on a stern tone at the end while she stared right dead into his eyes. "Achieving you guys' happy ending is one of my goals, Naruto. And I'd fight for yours the hardest because you deserve a happy ending. The girl that you find who loves you and will take care of you will be one lucky girl because you're adorable, caring, and even passionate about almost everything; but even more important; you're you." she paused for a moment, finally letting her tears fall. "And if the girl you find isn't the one, I'll still be there for you through thick and thin." she smiled.

Naruto's tears were overflowing now.

Kagome think's he's adorable? That's really beside the point…really, but, he couldn't think of anything else. "You think I'm adorable?" he asked with wide blue eyes, his mood forgotten and his face was lit up in happiness again as the tears miraculously dried.

Kagome blinked. '_Jeez. That was the lamest sappy moment of my life._' she thought, bemusing. "Naruto, come here." she said quietly, while sticking out her available arm in a gesture that was telling him she wanted a hug.

Naruto just stared at her in silence before getting up from the other side of the tree and crawling over to where she and Sasuke were seated and straight into her arms while he rested his head on her shoulder near her head, and Kagome's arm instantly tightened around his torso in a warm embrace as she comforted him from what would have been emotional pain. He smiled while he nuzzled his head lower into her neck, while he breathed out his proclamation to her. "I love you too, Kagome-chan." he was almost tempted to kiss her neck and make her his, but he didn't. He gave her up… that was the point of that sappy conversation that they just had. That will be the only thing that he's giving up on; well not giving up per se, but backing down and waiting until Sasuke breaks her heart… He probably will, and then again, he probably won't. But other than this, he's going to stay head strong for his best friend, and only hope for the best.

Kagome chuckled, while she tightened her arm again. "Go to sleep Naruto."

Naruto was just about to make himself comfortable, before Kagome spoke again.

"Not on me!" she snapped, back to the way she was, as she let go of Naruto's torso and eyed him with amusement. "I have to find a way to get Sasuke off me so I can take over being watch…" she said.

As soon as that was said, Kagome replaced herself with a shadow clone so she could go out and keep watch with the cats. Naruto fell asleep across from the shadow clone and Sasuke… not even sparing them a glance. Kagome already knew that he was going to be out for a while, but she doesn't really know when Sasuke was going to wake up, since he usually doesn't sleep that long, and is always early for missions.

Kagome set a small trap of kunai sticking up from the ground quite obviously in a zigzag pattern with her invisible aura keeping them linked together so that when someone walks through them they'd instantly alert her so that she can be ready for a fight. She isn't sure how she'd take a whole team if one pursues her, but she can try.

After the trap was finished, Kagome put a one-way barrier over the tree that her squad mates were sleeping in; so that only her and her teammates were permitted to go through it. She was satisfied with herself when she was done too. She decided to rest in between Etsu and Hiro so that she could take a small break, not even really sleeping.

Kanaye just smiled at his mistress, and set a hidden jutsu among the other two cats and himself before looking back ahead with a blank face as did Hiro and Etsu. They knew that someone was bound to attack this team like this, and they might as well get ready for it. Whoever attacks them won't be lucky though, since they wouldn't be able to see the cats…

About another hour and twenty-five minutes later-Kagome was counting now-Kagome felt three auras coming toward where she and her team was resting. They were about eight feet away, somewhere hidden among the trees that was lying in front of the tree shelter, beyond the small clearing that it had.

One of the team members of whoever was coming stupidly stepped in between the kunai, not that she was really using them. [It was just a trap to make them think that they were stepping in a trap, and avoiding it.] They didn't even notice that it was a trap and they effectively stepped through it, causing a feint hum to travel to Kagome and she instantly played like she was asleep, and woke her clone so that she can warn Sasuke and Naruto.

Her clone shook Sasuke who was now laid his head on her legs, and his body was lain so that his sandaled feet were near Naruto's stomach. Their formation looked a lot like an 'H', but anyway. He didn't wake. She tried again, and he still didn't wake up, so she got up and let him lay his head on the forest floor and got up to shake Naruto awake. But when he didn't wake up, she settled for pinching him awake.

Naruto shot up getting ready to screech out an 'ouch' but the clone Kagome shot her hand out and covered his mouth. She could sense the enemy ninja nearby… So when Naruto finally understood, she nodded her head toward the entrance and waited until he seen what she was seeing.

The ninjas had finally revealed themselves with a statement that Kagome really couldn't care less to hear but, she did anyways. But it was a little useful to identify them. They were the sound ninjas that started an attack before the first part of the Chuunin Exams. The sound trio... Hm...

"_He_ said to kill the Higurashi girl off," the one with the mummy wrap completely around his face commented. "It should be simple enough, she's practically throwing herself out there."

Kagome could feel his eye on her person too, and had to try to keep her Junseirigan in tact, she doesn't want them to sense the chakra spike whenever she does activate it... She's going to have to be a little more patient until they attack her first. She knows they will.

"Can we kill her teammates too?" the other boy asked. Kagome recognized his voice to belong to the boy who had dark spiky hair and and the weird headgear on, the other boy of the team.

"Who cares? As long as we get their scroll." the girl spoke.

Kagome mentally smirked. The still haven't caught on that her trap was a decoy... She almost snickered at the thought of these sound ninjas, 'Idiots', even almost succeeding in killing off her team. She'd like to see them try.

The leader of the group glared at Kagome's form, not even seeing the cats that were right by her, and stepped forward again. He frowned deeply in disappointment since he already sensed that she was awake. Couldn't this girl do anything right? Besides counter their attack during the first exams of course... He scowled at her before barking out a lecture that Kagome _also_ didn't want to hear. "Girl. How stupid do you think we are? We know that you are not sleeping. Get up." he growled. His arms didn't even move at his sides but he was getting ready to walk over and slap some sense into the girl.

Kagome did as was told and slowly lifted her head to reveal her sky-blue Junseirigan. "Oh, I know." she smirked while rising to her feet and reaching behind her back to pull out her sword from it's saya. '_taruhi no tsurugi_' **(1) **"But this should only take a few minutes. Then you can be on your way...or not."

"Oh, we'll be walking away alright..." the girl replied with a cruel smile of her own.

Kagome didn't even bother with what she learned before this about not rushing into her battle. This is her chance to get the scroll that her team needs so that they can get the hell out of this creepy forest by tomorrow. She's in dying need of a break from this hellhole. she's sure that Naruto and Sasuke couldn't stand it either.

So she infused what small amount of chakra she had left into her blade, and did what came naturally while holding her blade high in the air. "Secret Style: Frozen Bane Jutsu!" and she brought her blade down near the ground causing ice to surround their feet and icicles to surround the blade as it faced her opponent.

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><p><strong>Translations: (1) '<em>taruhi no tsurugi<em>'- Icicle Blade. :)**

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><p><strong>AN: Alright, cliff hanger, I know, but I'm really in a hurry.<strong>

**Don't expect me to go into deep detail on that fight. That fight didn't matter. :/ **

**Madara's Jewel's new chapter is being posted later on today. :)**

**Sorry if this was a sucky chapter, really I was in a hurry and this was a filler, well it was supposed to be... **

**And, I really do appreciate you guys' reviews. Thank you, guys! :D [Those of you who have reviewed, favorited, story-alert-ed, author-alert-ed; Oh, you know who you are!] **


	5. Ch 16 We made it, right?

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you publicly recognize.**

**I own the story though. **

**Sorry about any OOC's that I might have accidentally done. Just think of it as character growth, and consider their age and their situation. While their personalities are the same, they're adding more depth to them? Idk. I'll try to keep them in Character as much as I can, but just know that I'm very sorry and I hope that I didn't make them completely unacceptable in the past chapters.**

**But you guys will help me with that, right? **

_**Good News!**_**: I have someone to write the fluff parts for me whenever I can't get them right, she goes by, **_**Venas**_**, And I'd like to thank her for her offer to write them for me. (: But, don't worry you'll know when she writes them cause I'll credit her at the beginning of the scenes. [^_^]**

**So that means I'm only going to write them whenever I can, and get Venas's help whenever it's needed!**

**[By the way to clear up any misunderstanding, I **_**love**_** romance, I just can't write a ****great**** scene for those. But I'll still try. Lol.]**

**Thanks, **_**Venas**_**! **waves** **

**Oh, and Kagsuke romance is coming later, it's still being worked in. I don't want to get sloppy all of the sudden all because I decided to be spontaneous. (:**

**Enjoy! I tried to finish up the main scene so that they could get on with what's important already... I'm not exactly sure how that went, leave your thoughts? Every thought does count. Whoot!**

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><p><strong>Pages: 8 +<strong>

**Words: 4,000 - **

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: We made it, right? O.o" [or in other words, chap 16]<strong>

There was a lot of weird things that had happened before. But, what was happening right now was bizarre. It was hard to tell what was going on. The atmosphere was very foggy and hard to see anything through the thickness of it. That also made it hard to make anything out from around him. He felt very light, almost as if he didn't weigh a thing. It was completely weird, because he's sure he eats a lot, so why is he practically floating on the ground? And does that mean that gravity doesn't affect him right now? He didn't want to think about that for now. He wanted to know, where the hell he is, and where his teammates were, and what the hell was going on.

The last thing he remembered was trying not to fall asleep on Kagome. Then he appeared here, in some foggy stimulation looking-thing with no clue what time it was or where he was. And what was even worse, was the fact that he couldn't think. It was like something was preventing him from thinking, if that was possible.

'_What the hell?_' Sasuke said mentally.

He blinked his eyes, or what he could feel that seemed like his eyes, and was surprised to see that the fog was growing lighter with each bat of his lashes. That just made him blink more rapidly without so much as a one second pause in between the batting without a second thought.

When he was done blinking, he stood and looked around him in confusion. He was still under the tree that his team chose as a resting spot, and Naruto was still in there, sitting up and looking at something out side of the shelter, while Kagome was beside him, and they were both looking like they were spying on something.

"_What are they doing?" _Sasuke spoke, hearing his own voice as if it were an echo of the original. It was like he wasn't even there, because Naruto didn't seem to hear him speak at all. Or the dobe was seriously that ignorant, which Sasuke doesn't deny. But really, he's sure that Naruto would have made some remark to him about what was going on by now…

But, what he was seeing was a little bit dream-like, and hazy as if he was still sleep, and when he looked down he saw something that told him otherwise.

On the ground, lain against a tree was himself. No, it was his… Body? He looked like he was sleeping, except his body was paler than usual, and his nails were a little bit longer… But so was his hair. His hair looked like it grew an inch longer since they've entered the forest-and he already knew that wasn't possible. But his nails were what was creeping him out the most, they looked like if they grew any more they'd be talons. So, all in all, he looked like a sick, dying, human cosplaying some demon from a television show.

But really, Sasuke really hoped he was dreaming because he doesn't want to look like that when he finally tells Kagome he loves her. Yes, that's right he's planning on telling her-consequences be damned. He can't have Naruto staking his claim on her. Not that he'd respect the dobe's claim anyways.

That was besides what he was actually feeling right now, though. He wants to wake up so he can see what's wrong, but he doesn't even remember _how_ to wake up. All would have probably been good too, if only he could wake up.

'_What's happening to me?_' he thought to himself. '_Is this what it feels like to die?_ _Sesshoumaru really did kill me then, hn._' he thought pitifully. He wasn't really thinking about killing Itachi at this moment, that's what shocked him even more. No he was thinking about never seeing Kagome again… and their always-late sensei… and damn him to admit it… Naruto, too.

He didn't think he'd go out this way…

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><p><strong>-Hokage Tower-<strong>

Anko was in front of the Hokage in the Hokage Tower right now with a bunch of ANBU stationed around them so that they could understand the situation. She had just told the Sandaime about Orochimaru being here. And what he had said to her about not stopping the Chuunin Exams. But, now she couldn't help but think over his words, and try to find out what he had meant.

"_Anko-chan…" _the snake had told her. _"There's someone here…The little Higurashi girl… She's much more adorable than you ever were… she's a real spitfire." _he chuckled. _"She has something I need. Stop the Chuunin Exams and you'll have a nice surprise waiting for you when the choice has been made. Keep in mind that the girl is in my control now."_ she remembered that he eyed her curse mark with malicious eyes before he had continued while she kept grunting and gasping in pain. _"I gave her the Curse Seal of Earth, but it didn't seem to work… Strange, isn't it?…Remember, don't call off the exams…" _That was all he said before he had left.

She still didn't understand what he meant by the little girl being in his control. Really, he was being very cryptic throughout the whole conversation. There wasn't much that she _could_ understand, especially when she was in that much pain with the curse mark burning her like it had been.

But if anything, the only thing good that came out of that conversation was the fact that the Curse Seal didn't work. She was relieved at that, she doesn't want the little girl to go through what she had, or put the village in danger. But she is still staying on guard, just in case the Snake Bastard had just set her and the Hokage up. "What should we do, Hokage-sama?" she asked in a strained voice, still gripping her curse through her trench coat with a stressed, and worried look on her face.

The curse just kept getting worse with each passing second since she knew that he was here, almost as if it was responding to his presence…

"If he said that we shouldn't call off the Chuunin Exams, I guess we have no choice but to continue." Hiruzen replied, smoking his pipe from his desk, with hardened, but aged eyes.

He is glad that no real harm has came to the child as well. But he can't just call off the Chuunin exams because his rouge subordinate decided to go berserk and bite the child. But he knew why Orochimaru did it, and if his suspicions were correct, Konoha could be in a lot of trouble. He sighed. There is just too much baggage that comes with leading a village. He sighed, again.

The ANBU stationed around the room were kind of lost with where the conversation had gone, even though they were here since the beginning and had listened to each of the speaker's side of the conversation. But, wasn't Orochimaru one of the Sannin? And if he's so strong, what does he want from a little girl? From what they've all heard, she wasn't that special. At least not that they knew of…

Anko hearing what the Hokage had said snapped her gaze to him in a furious manner. "If _he_ gets a hold of someone with power as such of a Higurashi there's no telling how much danger this village could be in." she snapped. "With all due respect, Hokage-sama, we should pull her out of the exams, I don't care how pure she is, he will try to find a way to get her to come to him... She should be taken to the hospital to be checked on-she should-" she cut herself off at the stern look she received from the Hokage.

"Anko, that is enough." he said in a tone that meant finality. "Kagome isn't going to leave the village. Willingly or otherwise. If you had paid attention to her before, she has her heart set on this village. She's a very strong willed girl and I believe that she will make it through this with her head held high. Don't give up on her yet, she's still a pull-through. She has Sasuke and Naruto there for her." he finished, before adding, "Besides, Kakashi would know what to do with her."

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><p><strong>-Feudal Era-<strong>

They were in Kaede's hut with a few of the essences from the priestesses supply burning to help the tired and injured heal at a miraculous speed. The demon slayer, monk, nekomata, and kitsune all watched the two figures that were laying in the middle of the room with a careful eye. It made no sense how they even got here, to the world of the living. The group wanted some answers, but it seemed they weren't able to get them now, seeing as the couple were still sleep.

"So what has happened in InuYasha's forest, childe?" the portly elderly woman with a black eye-patch and red and white miko garbs asked the kitsune that was seated next to her.

"We don't know, Kaede-baa-chan." Shippo said with confusion. "When we got the call that there was demon activity in the forest, we went to check it out; mainly because Miroku and Sango had felt something off. And when we arrived, InuYasha and Kikyou were lying near the Goushinboku tree, knocked out."

"Hm, it sounds peculiar." the old woman said before turning her gaze up to the monk. "Do ye think it had something to do with Lady Kagome?"

"What do you mean, Kaede-sama?" Miroku asked with his eyebrows knit in confusion. Sango and Shippo had the same reactions.

"I mean, childe, that Kagome still has part of her soul." she spoke looking back to her 'older' sister that was still lying unconscious with the half-demon. "Ye do know that Kagome wasn't just Kikyou-nee's reincarnation, hai?"

"No." Sango answered, before Miroku could.

"I've thought about the child's heritage around the last year and what surprised me was the fact that she was one of Midoriko's descendants directly." Kaede spoke with no uncertainty. Her eyes sparkled while she spoke. "She's also the reincarnation of Midoriko."

Sango and Miroku's eyes had widened. They looked away from the old woman, and regarded Kikyou again, trying to see the legendary priestess in the woman's face. But now that Kaede had mentioned it, both Kikyou and Kagome did sort of look like the deceased priestess, Midoriko. But how could that be whenever Midoriko's soul was imprisoned in the jewel?

Was that the reason that the Jewel was taken to a new time with Kikyou's soul? And the reason that it returned to Kagome's body after the battle was over?

"It's great that we cleared that up." Shippo murmured with dazed eyes. His nee-chan was the reincarnation of a reincarnation of Midoriko-sama?

"But there's one thing that still doesn't fit…" Kaede continued, as if Shippo hadn't spoken. "Kikyou doesn't quite seem to be the complete reincarnation of Midoriko. Her fragment of the soul is like a puzzle piece."

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><p><strong>-F. O. D.-<strong>

Kagome had been fighting the sound trio for a while now. And the girl with the long dark hair was frosted into her spot in a full ice prison by now from all the Frozen Ice Bane Jutsu that Kagome had to use repeatedly. The girl was probably knocked unconscious too. The only one's that were left of their team were the two boy members of the team. This was going well for Kagome, she actually thought that they'd be a little bit more difficult. But 'guess not.

In the shelter of the tree, Kagome's clone and Naruto were waiting for the right moment to strike. It was something that Kagome had given him a lecture about whenever they trained on the day of the first exam. It was because she said something about him bursting into battle without even the smallest hint of cover would get him killed or something like that, and needless to say; he heeded her advise.

Naruto smelt the cats still being near the tree and was surprised that he couldn't really see them. So, he knew they didn't actually leave. But he still wasn't exactly sure what they did, though. Nor did the clone tell him where they were, because he awoke when the Sound Trio were already there… unfortunately.

But, now; he and the clone had sensed that the two boys' attention was completely on Kagome and they had dropped their guard. That was when the clone whispered to him so that only he could hear, "Now!"

Naruto disappeared from the tree and reappeared behind the two sound ninjas in one fluid moment, while trying to keep his mouth shut about how he surprised them. He was excited, Kagome's going to be really proud of him! He could sneak up on their enemy that easily! He was surprised that the two didn't even noticed that he had appeared behind them.

But that wasn't all that shocked him; he didn't know what was up but his speed seemed to be improving. It was weird. But it was probably due to the strange dream that he had with the Kyuubi. That damned fox did say something about paying up whenever his team was in need. He assumed this is what the fox meant. He mentally smirked. His grace was a little bit better too, but not by much, because Kagome heard him.

Kagome smiled a bit at her enemy while she stared them down, looking at Naruto whom was behind them. She subtly nodded her head once in a way to show that they were going to have to end this quickly. She really wants to get out of here.

Out of nowhere, she barely even realized that her her heart had suddenly grew warm, and she almost didn't hear the voices. Almost.

**"Miko…" **a collection of voices spoke, but Kagome ignored it.

She needed to finish this up; those Frozen Banes took a lot out of her chakra and she was starting to run low. More specifically, while her chakra was running low her heart was starting to burn more. It wasn't a very pleasant feeling, if anyone had wondered.

**"Miko…" **the voice echoed again.

'_What is it?_' she asked, confused. The last time she spoke to the jewel was a month ago whenever it went to nest in her heart. She hadn't spoken to them since then. So what is it now?

**"The power… The jewel… overcome dormancy…" **the voices were becoming a bit easier to understand, what with a lot of demons speaking at once; it usually made it a little hard to understand. But no, these were the only words Kagome could understand that the jewel had spoken to her right now.

Kagome kept her eyes on the enemy, as did Naruto; but she noticed Naruto's eyes were changing into a crimson color with cat-like slits for pupils. But that's as far as they would go. The whiskers on his face stayed put though… oddly enough. But she was sort of relieved, she's not sure if they'd be able to win this battle if Naruto went all homicidal all of the sudden...

**"Use Us…"**

Kagome blinked, before murmuring something out loud. "You would want me to use you wouldn't you," But she didn't really answer the jewel directly. But it doesn't matter; the jewel won't let her die here. It needs to survive, and in order to do that, their protector needs to survive. So they wen't on without her consent, combining their left over energies to create something new on the child that they resided in.

The jewel didn't reply to her anytime during the process, and instead fought against the burning that was starting to stem at the base of her collarbone, causing the burning to turn into a small area of stinging. Kagome's eyes burned a little, but otherwise stayed as they were while the jewel did it's work.

Her enemy was watching with wide, surprised eyes, they didn't know that this would have happened. _He_ didn't tell them that it would have happened. He just said to come kill the girl, and they had already fought with her for ten minutes straight, and she already had their teammate frozen completely in an iceberg-like prison, immobile. But then, they were lucky that they got an extra scroll just incase they were being set up. They had to be prepared. They won't take anything; this is a no nonsense business. If they continue, it's assured that they'd die fighting against this...thing. Then there was them finding out that they were being used as tools as Orochimaru's plan, as much as they wanted to please him, they were pissed to find that they were going into a losing battle blindly, with the humiliation of being beat up by 1, genin who was much younger than them.

They all watched as Kagome changed, including Naruto, with wide eyes. Kagome's eyes stayed in their Junseirigan form, but around her eyes a tattoo appeared, it was shiny silver glittery eye-shadow-like tattoos with black liner-like markings that were thinner than the sand genin, Gaara's, and her nails gotten longer to that equivalent of a cat's that were colored black. Then her humane ears disappeared and on her head, two silver-tipped black cat ears had formed. While the undertone of her hair was shadowed silver in it's wake with the top still being black and staying the same length that she had cut it days ago. those were the only changes that they could visibly see, and the only ones that counted.

Their enemy was scared shitless. They wanted to think that this was some kind of hinge, but; they couldn't think of any transformation jutsu that would allow it's user to become demonic.

Naruto stared at his teammate in wonder while his own nails grew out a tiny bit, as did his canines. But, his breath was taken away when he saw how beautiful Kagome was; but it made him wonder; was she like him? He couldn't help but think about that. But, she didn't seem feral? What was going on with her? Even if she was a demon, he couldn't help but think her to be ethereal…

Kagome was still staring ahead, but she had felt the changes going on with her body and looked down at her hands in shock. '_I'm… a demon?_'

The jewel seemed to bark out a laugh at her confusion. It was rather rude, in her defense. It wasn't like she was going to know exactly what was going on. This has got to be the first time that she allowed herself to use the jewel for her own benefit. And, to be truthful, it wasn't even really a valid one; it was just so that she can get her teammates safely out of this forests, but really? The demons expect her to know what's going on?

**"No, you are not a demon. You are what you were born as; The Shikon Miko…" **the voices spoke in sync with a sure voice. **"You have the jewel in your expense, now it's time you use us for yourself."**

'_What?_' Kagome couldn't be any more confused. Use the jewel for herself? She thought that that was something that she couldn't do.

But the jewel didn't elaborate itself anymore, instead it said something that Kagome understood perfectly. **"This month; neko."**

Naruto took this as his shot to catch the enemy off guard. He held out both of his claws that had a little amount of chakra in them and he quickly swiped both of his hands out to catch both of the sound genin by their necks, letting his claws sink into the skin their.

The leader of the sound genin's eyes grew even wider, as did his teammate's. There was no doubt now, they were going to die. '_This is getting worse with each passing moment. We should have already surrendered when the fight had started... I better give up before she kills us, that power..._' he winced at the amount of power that was coming from her small form.

"Onegai, we surrender..." He choked out, since their was claws around their necks; which he didn't even bother to turn around and see. "You're looking for an Earth Scroll, ne?" he shakily attempted to dig around in his camouflage pants' pockets and pulled out the scroll that they needed. "Take it..." he tossed it at Kagome, which she caught effortlessly.

Kagome stared at the scroll in disbelief, then looked back to the sound trio with guarded eyes. She tried to find something fishy about what he said; but she found nothing. Nothing except the other team member practically shaking completely from head to toe in her watch from what she could only guess was fear or anger. It didn't matter though, she received the scroll that they needed, she mentally grinned.

Naruto was shocked stock-still. They were just going to give up? And they gave Kagome their scroll? Was that lucky or what? But then, he realized that he wouldn't get to fight right now, and he pouted. He really wanted to show how much he listened to Kagome whenever she was lecturing him that day. That was extremely hard for him to do, too! And now it's being wasted because these temes were just giving up. He sighed, loosening his grip on the two.

Kagome released the Frozen Bane Prison jutsu that she had put the female team member in and the girl fell to the ground in a pale lump. She had purplish bags around her eyes, and her eyes were cold while she minutely shook from the remaining cool air that was in the prison that she was in. All in all it looked like she was suffering with hypothermia, which made Kagome feel a bit guilty about, but at least the girl is alive.

"Take her and go." Kagome ordered them as she watched the sound squad's tallest boy pick up the girl with shaky arms and set her on his back. They were going to need a lot of rest in order to pass this test; which they will...

"We'll take our leave now, but hear me out; you're on my list, Sasuke Uchiha," the one wrapped like a mummy, the leader, said, while looking in the general direction of where Sasuke was lying. "And you, too, Kagome Higurashi." and with that the three sound genin had disappeared from their sight.

The jewel slowly took back their energy leaving Kagome as she was before they'd had offered it to her. She was paler, and under her eyes her small bags were still there, but her veins that had gone black were now a dark violet on her collar bone. And her hair was back to it's usual blue-black with her nails going back to the way they were as well as her eyes too. She just looked like a plain old tenshi again. But, beautiful none the less, if she had asked Naruto.

Naruto was staring at her in wonder. '_Does she have an inner demon like me?_' he thought, thinking of how the Kyuubi had explained that there were nine bijuus that were imprisoned in kids called Jinchuuriki. He just wanted to know, is Kagome a Jinchuuriki, like him?

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><p><strong>In the shelter:<strong>

Sasuke was still 'floating on the ground' as he watched what had just happened between his teammates and the sound genin. The only reason he watched, was because whenever he saw Naruto disappear he was curious and decided to see what was going on. But, he was astonished to see that Naruto had went into the battle, unnoticed, and was an effective ally for Kagome. He mentally smiled a bit. At least the dobe was improving.

But when he saw Kagome's transformation, he was speechless. He didn't even know Kagome was even like that. When she had changed, it reminded him of whenever Naruto had changed, but with less of a chakra spike from what he could tell. Actually her features wasn't even made from chakra at all, it seemed. But one thing was for certain, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was very beautiful; his reaction was something that he couldn't help. He felt a small primal need for the girl, something that he could only label as bestial reaction-like that of someone who was lusting for someone they found attractive. [Don't ask, he read a specific _book_ once by accident *cough* Icha Icha series*cough*...] He couldn't help it either. He just felt like he needed to keep her from everyone and only to himself.

But he tried to push those reactions back as quickly as he could. He doesn't need these awkward feelings just coming out of the blue. Seriously? He's lusting for the girl that he hasn't even asked out yet. _Smooth move, Sasuke_, he thought, while berating himself.

After about an hour of watching Kagome and Naruto set more traps and come back into the tree's root shelter, Sasuke had long since drifted off from consciousness in the state that he was in. If you could call it that, since he's supposedly, 'dead.' But if he was dead, he wouldn't be able to sleep right? Well, he was now. Oh, and even better, he just realized that he could think much more clearly since he had 'died.' Not that he didn't think clearly before, it's just he could think clear_er_ now. He mentally smirked when he had figured that out...

Oh, yes. Maybe he could haunt his brother to death? That'd be much more enjoyable; instead of just killing him and walking away to be with his chosen mate...

A few hours later, found Kagome and Naruto watching Sasuke's sleep prone body very closely. They had noticed some small things with him, like the fact that he was paler than usual and his nails were a little bit sharper, but that was the only thing that they paid any real attention to, or that was easily noticeable. They both wondered what he went through before they came here, and they both were trying to silently figure out what was wrong with him now. He looked like he was dead.

But they didn't even get far in that train of thought before Sasuke's eyes slowly started to flutter open, and the first thing he looked at was Kagome. He was breathing hard, and he looked a bit dazed, but other than that, he looked better than he did when he was sleeping. Sasuke slowly lowered his gaze back to his hands to make sure that he didn't have talons, and was relieved when he saw that they were reduced to a smaller time at the moment.

When Kagome saw that Sasuke looked at her first, she didn't know the exact reason why, but she blushed. Mainly because she was reminded of when Sasuke fell asleep on her. Then again, she also had a feeling that he saw her whenever the jewel had donated power for her need. But, the first thing that she really noticed about Sasuke was his eyes. They were still black, but instead of their usual onyx, it was like a silvery dark charcoal gray, and if he hadn't turned his gaze elsewhere she probably would have stared at his eyes all day in admiration.

What the heck did Sasuke go through?

They had a small discussion on whether or not they were in good shape to keep going; and they had came to a mutual agreement. They might as well get started on their trek, since they've been attacked already. Three times to be exact; then there's the fact that they already have the scrolls that they needed. There really was no telling who was going to attack them next. So they had a quick, but maintained meal before packing up to leave.

It only took a few hours for them to reach the tower that lie in the center of the forest with three days to spare. They were all inside the tower right now, reading the poster and trying to figure out what it meant, and why it was missing two characters of the puzzle. Whenever Kagome put it together that they must open the scrolls at the same time in order to find the information.

"What is this?" Naruto exclaimed, holding the earth scroll. Kagome was holding the heaven scroll and was trying to figure out what it meant herself. Naruto continued, "A man?"

"I don't know..." Kagome skim read the scrolls again before a flash of understanding crossed her face.

"Naruto, Kagome..." Sasuke began. "Get rid of them; they're summoning scrolls!" he said urgently.

Both Naruto and Kagome quickly threw the scrolls out of their reach and watched as the scrolls landed one on top of the other in an 'X' formation and a poof of smoke clouded the area. As soon as the smoke cleared, there was a figure that all three of team 7 were surprised to see. Iruka-sensei.

"What, It's you!" Sasuke asked, shocked.

"Why?" Kagome asked, knitting her eyebrows in confusion.

"Heheh." Iruka chuckled, with his arms crossed and his eyes showing his amusement. "It's good to see you guys, too." he looked at all three of them, taking a minute to look at Sasuke's eyes and then he rested his gaze on Kagome with worried eyes. He could see the violet veins that were rising on her neck and saw the dark bags under her eyes, so naturally he was curious as to what happened to them during in the Forest of Death. "It looks like you guys' have been through a lot."

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelled, with surprise written all over his features.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke asked, curiously.

"Well," their former sensei began nervously. "As a Chuunin it's our jobs to be here to greet you guys as you have made it out of the forest alive. I was lucky enough to get you guys to greet." he said, thinking about bribing Anko into letting him greet their team. "And since you guys are here three days early, I'd be proud to treat you all to ramen."he grinned sheepishly, while rubbing the back of his head.

"Ramen! Ramen! Ramen, Ramen, Ramen, Ramen!" Naruto enthused jumping at Iruka and wrapping his arms around the admired man.

"Hey! Naruto, cut it out!" Iruka strained. "I'm not finished talking, yet!" Then he promptly began to explain to them about the poster board that was missing two characters, seeing as Kagome had asked him about it.

He went into the explanation as; Heaven being their mind and if it's intellect that the ninja lacks they should catch up. And Earth being the ninja's physical strength and if they're lacking in that then they were to train harder in order to become stronger. And when he was finished all three genin understood what he meant, and accepted the information with comprehension.

"So, Ramen?" Naruto asked, trying to keep his energy on lock, whenever they were finished and everyone else chuckled at his antics. Of course he'd ask about Ramen.

Then they all walked out to go to the favorited Ramen shop, Ichiraku's Noodle Shop, with thoughts of relief in most of their heads, and small smiles on their faces.

But, Kagome and Sasuke were more on the borderline of anticipating the next test. It wasn't easy getting through the second. So how hard is this one going to be?

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry for ending it like that, I told you I wasn't going to go into too much detail with that last fight. <strong>

**Thanks for reading, alerting, favoriting, reviewing for all of the last few chapters. :)**

**I didn't like this chapter, because I really couldn't fit the first part of the Preliminaries in there because of all the drama that was already in it. So Instead, the Next Chapter is going to start out with it, since they came there three days early. :)**

**And I didn't really think this chapter was good, anyways. So I classified this as another filler.**

**Yea, if you noticed that I didn't write some parts; it's either cause they didn't matter or I'll come back to it later. Always assume one or the other. **

**So, Review? **


	6. Ch 17 Say What!

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you publicly recognize that may be seen on Television, Movies, or Books, [or Anime, Manga] etc.**

**No Copyright Infringement intended. ©**

**This story belongs to yours truly, Moi, BelieveInKi1214.**

**AN: Here's the first part to the Preliminaries guys! Whoot!**

**I'm greedy with reviews aren't I? Well, now I'm posting. Thank me later. ;D**

**I'm seriously late though; Sorry about pulling a Kakashi on you guys. xD**

**Just a Heads Up: [Warning]  
>Hayate Gekko doesn't have Tuberculosis in here; Kagome's mom worked small voluntary shifts at the hospital, and she had healed it two weeks after he had caught it.<br>And this is a long chapter. Thank You!  
>Read and Review!<strong>

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><p><strong>Key:<strong>

"**Word"- **Jewel Speaking

"_**Word"**_ - Prophetic Dream

"_Word_" – What was said during a flashback.

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><p><strong>Words:<strong> At least 4000

**Pages:** At least 11.

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Say what! [Chapter 17]<strong>

"**Miko…" **_**said a hissing group of voices, the voice that rang familiarity in her mind.**_

_**The rain pattered heavily against the field's ground, not giving the green blades the chance to breathe in the mucky oxygen that would have been there if it hadn't been raining .**_

_**The rain was merely rescuing the grass from damage; the damage that is inevitable that comes in the form of pollution. That's how nature had liked to understand it as. This message was clear for her to understand.**_

"**See; it rains here." **_**the female voice of the jewel spoke alone, with wisdom held tightly in her voice. Though the words were probably meant as a statement, it sounded urgent to Kagome's delicate ears.**_

_**And, she did see. She kept watching, too, in case of a sudden change to keep her superior pleased that she could even pay attention.**_

_**The thing that happened next was something that even she couldn't understand, though. The rain had altogether stopped mid-pour and settled for being frozen in air as Kagome got a better look of what the rain drops were made up of.**_

_**And she dropped her mouth open in shock.  
><strong>_  
>But she had woken up before she could even decipher what she had seen; she didn't even catch a useful glimpse.<p>

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><p>It has been two days since their team had passed the second part of the exam. Two whole days since that part of their battle was over. Forty eight hours, so and so minutes, and so many seconds… But now, they started to wonder what was going to come of it. How many more hurdles are they going to have to jump to get to their destination?<p>

Right now, everyone was in the Academy's training area; or in this case, it's their Arena. They had just been given the rules for the Preliminary rounds. The Preliminaries; for some reason or other there were still too many teams…Too many for the examiner's liking that is.

"Huh," Kagome hummed. "I thought for sure he would have quit again this year; since he's never passed before…" she murmured, staring at the side of Kabuto's head. He did explain to the rookies that this was his seventh time taking it, and all. Maybe he did just keep on failing…

Shikamaru heard her though, and wore a curious expression on his face. They should be more careful. He didn't get a very good vibe from Kabuto, and right now it was like his gut was screaming at him.

After that was done with; the rule explaining, Kagome had been scowling toward the floor as she tried to claw her heart out throughout the rest of the explanation. She just couldn't help it, it burned like hell…

The Jounin were in the Academy as well, looking over all of the genin that passed, [mainly their own students] while Kakashi, Anko, and Ibiki were watching Kagome with worried and wary eyes. They saw her try to claw at her collarbone, but luckily Sasuke kept catching her wrists before she could even get one scratch in; which pissed Kagome off, and she kept shooting him angry glares and daggers in protest.

"She doesn't have it, the curse mark… But he said that he gave it to her." Anko whispered quietly among the Jounin and Hokage, while staring intently at the young girl.

"Then she should be fine, Anko." The Hokage said looking straight at Kagome's collarbone.

Anko looked dumbfounded. Had the old man really not seen the marks that looked much worse than the curse seal? She looked like she had some freakish allergic reaction; one that causes the person's veins near their heart to turn black and make the person look like they're fighting insomnia. It was practically in full view for all of them to see. "But… those bruises… I've never seen them before… shouldn't we get her to the hospital?" she couldn't help it; it was an automatic response to worry about the girl, maybe it was just the girl herself.

Kakashi was wondering the same thing, what the hell did the snake do to her? He'd be damned if he didn't care an ounce about his students. If he said anything relevant to that lie, he'd probably end up in hell automatically. He cares so much about his students; and seeing them come back from the second exam in this condition made him regret even electing them in the first place…

After the Hokage had explained everything on why there was a Chuunin exam in the first place, Kagome knew she was certain of one thing in particular. She felt the snake guy's aura here somewhere, he was somewhere amongst the Jounin and Hokage. She wanted to frown, but instead she had paid attention to Hayate instead as he began to explain how the preliminaries were going to work—she'll figure out what the serpent is up to later.

Anko then went next and had explained to them that the names will be on the panel and that was who they were going up against. Up first was Sasuke vs. Yoroi Akado. And the rest were told to wait on the upper floor.

Before Kagome started to walk away she turned to her teammate with a smile on her face. "You better win Sasuke-kun." She mused. "I'd actually like to see you during the third part of the exam."

Sasuke looked at her with surprise, and a small blush coating the tops of his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. "Hn..." he muttered.

Kagome could see Kakashi making his way toward them and she hurried and pulled Sasuke into a quick hug. "Good luck…" she whispered in his ear and she pulled back to look him in the eye, finding herself surprised with the unidentified emotion in Sasuke's eyes. Maybe he did like her more than she had originally thought.

"Thanks…" he murmured. '_It means a lot…_' he finished mentally.

Kagome smiled in return and then began to walk toward her sensei with her smile still on her face and a small dose of bounce in her step. She was just happy that their team had even passed, what with all that her team had been through. Now that that part was over and done with, they just have to get through the preliminaries… alive.

But, Kagome's good mood and smile wiped from her face completely whenever she seen the serious look in Kakashi's eye, and was replaced with concern in its stead. He looked worried, and stressed out. That was never a good thing.

"Kagome…" He took her wrist, and began walking toward the stairs that lead to the upper floor where every other genin, Jounin, and the Hokage were waiting, including Naruto. "I need to talk to you."

They were now on the upper floor, and they kept walking until they were near Naruto. Naruto, who was a bit excited to watch the fight that was just about to begin. He couldn't wait to taunt Sasuke about how he lost!

"Whatever _he_ did to you, Kagome, you're going to have to check in to the hospital as soon as your fight is done, got it?" Kakashi spoke with lightness that hid his real emotion well.

Kagome nodded. '_Of course, he knows…_' she thought looking down to where Sasuke and Yoroi were facing in the center of the Arena.

"But, in the mean time, you might want to take it easy whenever you do fight."

"Of course I will." she muttered. She just doesn't know how much of her all she should give every time he fights. She usually gets carried away in a middle of a fight, she's sure this wouldn't be any different, depending on who she's fighting. Though, she really wouldn't mind getting carried away while fighting Kabuto… she really doesn't like him.

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><p>Sasuke and Yoroi were getting ready to begin; they both felt that this was going to be a short battle, <em>Sasuke<em> could feel it. He's been feeling more powerful ever since he woke up in the forest of death. He didn't know what Sesshoumaru had done to him, but now he was seeing it as a benefit, something that he should be thankful for. He mentally smirked. This was probably the best thing that has ever happened to him since that one fateful day…which he does vow to get revenge on someday. He's just proud that he has powers to back him up now…

Hayate Gekko looked back and forth between the candidates before clearing his throat and telling them the rules once more in case either party has forgotten. "Alright; the fight will be over when one candidate is unconscious or dead. Your sensei may step in at any time they feel it's necessary; and whenever they do, you automatically forfeit. That means no interruptions from the fight, unless you wish it to be nullified. Neither of you will win then. You may use whatever is in your arsenal, and may give up if you feel you cannot go on. Do I make myself clear?"

"You got it," Yoroi said, his eyes covered in black circles that were in place of where his eyes would have shown if they weren't covered, and full-cover head gear on with an outfit similar to Kabuto's.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted. "Let's just start the fight already."

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><p><strong>...Feudal Era.<strong>

It's been days and the InuTachi still hadn't figured out what caused InuYasha and his supposed mate to wind up with the living, and days since InuYasha and Kikyou had woken up, really. Sango had tried to ask them what they thought had happened, but every time she tried, she felt a small sloshing feeling in her stomach that made her automatically feel the need to throw up.

It kept happening for a few weeks now, and she was starting to think she had the flu… She was even starting to feel a little heavier than usual. The smallest sudden movements would send her to her butt and some of the time she felt like throttling someone. She wasn't exactly sure what kind of flu did that, but all in all, she could tell that her condition isn't very well and she should probably be a little more careful around the others; she doesn't want them to catch it too.

"Keh…" InuYasha grumbled, bringing a small bundle of slaughtered rabbits into the hut that they were still in. [They were only there because Sango needed a break, which explains why InuYasha was grumbling.] "Here's lunch…" he muttered.

Kaede just looked at the bundle in his hand with befuddled elderly eyes. "Doesn't Kagome have ye skin the rabbit first?" she rose an eyebrow over her visible eye.

"…And I still have to do everything around here!" he complained some more as he began skinning the rabbits and doing all of the other necessities that were required for them to eat them.

Kikyou shook her head at the inu hanyou.

Sango watched with amused eyes as she rubbed her stomach; yes, it was her fault that InuYasha had to go out and hunt, but it wasn't her fault that she was extremely hungry. She felt that she had no control over that, and that if she eats enough, maybe this flu would go away.

"…And it sure doesn't help when Sango has the appetite of four men…" InuYasha kept grumbling. He was lucky Sango didn't hear that. Otherwise she would have attacked him head on, and it doesn't matter if she's too sick. She'd still win.

"Sango-chan… Here's the water you asked for!" Shippo and Miroku both walked into the hut carrying the two full buckets of water that she requested.

Did she mention that she was very thirsty as well?

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><p><strong>Present…<strong>

Somewhere in the Arena with all the rest of the genin and Jounin ninja and the Hokage, there was one lone Sound Jounin with dark green eyes and a semi-pale face. He wore an interested smirk on his face as he watched the scene play out before him.

His Jounin vest was different, because he was from a different village. It was more of a dark camouflage green, and had more of a singular look to it. But, overall, he looked like a dark-embracing person…What with his dark hair being pulled up into a short, high-samurai-style ponytail and a small hidden powerful edge that was secluded in his chakra network.

But, really this Jounin was in an exceptional mood. He had what he wanted, no one had figured out that he was here at all, and he gets to watch the fights unravel before him.

'_I'm just waiting for Kagome-chan's fight…_' his mind purred to him. '_Then, it should be more effective… Kabuto-kun's fight probably won't come anytime soon… I'm counting on you Kabuto._' He thought toward his favorite follower that was standing in front of him with his other subordinate while his second best was on the floor getting ready to fight against the last Uchiha.

"Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto murmured quietly, so that only his team could hear it. "I'm guessing there's no way to speed up the fights…"

"There's no way that I can think of, but if you find a way, then be my guest." Orochimaru smirked at Kabuto's impatience. "I suggest you be patient."

Kabuto just smirked as he slowly shook his head.

* * *

><p>They were fighting for a while, Yoroi and Sasuke, that is. Even though Sasuke has this power, he wasn't exactly sure how to use it. So he had vowed not to use up too much chakra that was probably going to be needed. Unfortunately for him, Yoroi was anxious to get this fight over with already.<p>

Yoroi's hand was glowing in his blue chakra as he stuck his hand out in front of him, and Sasuke was being held down on the floor with Yoroi's legs pinning his own down.

Yoroi started to descend his hand down to Sasuke's forehead in an attempt to slow him down. As soon as it touched his forehead, Sasuke felt it, he was feeling weaker than what he had been, not by much; it was still a far cry from being completely useless.

With what energy that he had left, Sasuke managed to lift both of his legs and crouch them to his chest as his sandaled feet rested on his opponent's chest, and he used what power he had left to hoist the older boy up off of his person and flying away from him.

"What the… Hell…" he muttered as he slowly rolled over so he could get up. It didn't help with Naruto's taunting him in the background, really.

"Aw; come-on teme!" Naruto screamed at him again. "You look like you're losing!"

Sasuke ignored that comment and completely gotten to his feet, with his eyes closed as he gathered some of the chakra that he had left to his eyes. There was no more playing safe here; he's going to have to use the jutsu Kagome had taught him…

Yoroi felt a devastating chakra gathering around Sasuke whenever he did this. He couldn't be sure what color it was, but it looked white. Like bright white. Chakra isn't visible. It's spiritual, or at least it should-be.

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><p>Kagome and Kakashi were watching the fight intently, they saw Sasuke's chakra, which last time Kagome checked it was black. Now it was white. And, his chakra didn't use to be visible… So, there was obviously something up.[Kakashi didn't have the patience as of right now to be reading from his favorite book… so of course he's paying attention.]<p>

Kagome had an idea that this is what the results of the Forest of Death were when their team had gotten split up. It must have been, because Sasuke's appearance was looking different too. Even though, she didn't dare bring it up.

His hair was a little bit longer, at least two inches, and his nails were more talon-like, and looked as if they had grown, too. And his eyes, whenever she saw them a few minutes ago, they had a silvery tint to them. All in all, he looked like the byproduct of a half demon and a human. Not that Kagome would know what they look like… Well, Sasuke could be the byproduct of one, minus the animal appendages. More like Sesshoumaru's offspring with black hair. He sure had the attitude down… even the gorgeousness too…

But, she decided to keep that last thought locked up and never to be revealed to anyone.

When Sasuke opened his eyes, it revealed his Sharingan, and luckily it was the same… except for the silky hue that it took on, but other than that, it was natural. And for that Kagome was a little bit calmer whenever she spoke.

"Okay, so maybe I'm blind." Kagome commented suddenly, grabbing the attention of Naruto, Kakashi, and all the genin that was near. [Rookie Ten and Gai's Team]

"What do you mean, Kagome-san?" Lee asked, with furrowed brows.

Gai was looking at the girl with interested eyes, he wanted to know what she was thinking too.

"I don't mean it literally," Kagome fixed her statement lazily, "but, is it just me, or does Sasuke look different?"

Everyone then turned their attention back to Sasuke who was gathering chakra with the hand seals that Kagome had showed him; the ones that he shamelessly copied. It was The Lightning Dragon seals that he was using. Oh, and Sasuke's Sharingan looked weird…? Was that what she wanted them to notice?

Kakashi hadn't seen anything like this before, the jutsu that was being executed by his brooding student. He was amazed, because this jutsu looked as if it took a lot of chakra… But he supposes that since Sasuke has a lot of chakra naturally, he could use it easily…

"Raikuton: Raikoudo!"( Lightning Style Lightning Dragon Jutsu) Sasuke yelled. As a bright yellow bolt of lightning came from his hands that were outstretched and clasped in front of him, in aim at Yoroi.

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><p>Yoroi had effectively dodged it; well, that's what he thought anyway. Just when he was about to land on the giant hands that were in a hand seal, the jutsu got him in the backs of his legs, tearing into the skin there and causing him to bleed uncontrollably as he let out a pained yelp.<p>

He thought for sure that he was going to die… He was falling from mid air, and all he could do is just fall… tumbling though, as he inevitably went down head first…This was most likely going to be over quick… thankfully.

Sasuke wasn't done yet, though. He felt it. Just from using that one powerful jutsu, the power he felt earlier was being recharged, or something like that. He wanted to use it; to make sure that this guy knows his place. He doesn't like this guy, or his teammates either. Sasuke needs them to know not to mess around with anything that couldn't be fooled, especially his team.

"Hn." he grunted, as the white chakra gathered around his form again. This time, it made a form like a cloak around him as his eyes shone with victory. Well, the chakra formed around his chest and back mainly, he could feel the chakra returning there as it was healing the torn networks that Yoroi had messed up. '_Now Naruto isn't the only one with visible chakra..._' he thought to himself with a boisterous smirk.

His white chakra then made itself into its own authentic form, not just an illusion or a cloak; but it had a weight and mass obviously. When it was done, Sasuke felt he was being dragged to the ground with the unexpected extra weight. And even though he still felt strong, he couldn't help but wonder what the hell just happened, and how was this new addition going to affect him.

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><p>Everyone was now watching with their mouths dropped open. The Hokage was surprised himself. He didn't expect this to happen; actually they were pretty sure that nothing too terrible happened to that team as a whole. So now they were left to second guess. What is going on with Sasuke's chakra?<p>

Sasuke seemed to have acquired a new source of power that was as heavy as his own, but it didn't look like he could control it. It looked like he was just winging it as he went along. That could never be good. He's going to have to make sure this doesn't get out… though that may prove to be a bit hard, what with the bad timing of when Sasuke had been gifted this power…

If he actually knew what was going to happen, he wouldn't have been on the edge of his seat right now; actually he would have probably taken it a bit lighter than he was now.

He's going to have to have both Kagome and Sasuke be checked out by Tsunade… as soon as Kagome's fight is over, and as soon as Tsunade gets here. Then he could have Kun-loon-sama check them over as well.

"Hm..." he hummed, keeping his face emotionless. This is one occurrence that rarely ever happened.

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><p>Kagome was visibly rubbing her eyes as she watched what was going on. She couldn't believe her eyes. And people had said seeing is believing! Pish-posh… there was no way that after seeing this she'd just automatically believe what she sees. Now she only has a lot more to worry about, rather than her problems just going away.<p>

Sasuke had just gained wings from nowhere... No, wait... Not just any wings, but wings made from white chakra? How the hell did they become black then?

Kagome was drawing a blank, and she could tell her sensei and Naruto was too. What happened while Kagome was out? Or, more specifically what happened while Sasuke was out?

"Are those wings!" Naruto exclaimed, staring at Sasuke like he found a new species of bugs.

"Uh, yea… I think so… Maybe it's a henge." Kagome answered in comment.

"It's not a henge." Kakashi said thoughtfully… And it wasn't a henge. It was there… Kakashi could tell all of this, even without using his Sharingan… So when did Sasuke grow wings? "It's actually there, and it's not an illusion. Why would Sasuke make an illusion of wings?"

Kagome shrugged. "I don't know."

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><p>Sesshoumaru was standing by his teammates; his 'sensei' wasn't here, yet. He knows that she's probably just off getting herself drunk, or something of the sort with Akemi, her adopted daughter. It was just something that they usually did to help Tsunade get over her headaches...<p>

He watched the fight with a stoic face that completely kept his interest hidden. He wanted to see how his new heir was going to do during his fight. Although he still wasn't sure why he made Sasuke his heir… He didn't regret his reflexive decision though, not even whenever he seen Sasuke's wings sprout at only a novice level…

But, he's sure he can shape Sasuke up, to get the revenge he wanted, and to take Sesshoumaru's place as Daiyoukai when it's his time to retire.

He's only been living for 1,500 years.

'_Hn._' he thought. '_This Sesshoumaru isn't planning on retiring anytime soon._ _Not when Uchiha is still a beginner…_' then he slid his gaze over to his female teammate. '_And now I know who you are…Miko. You probably already know InuYasha's alive…Do you not?_'

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><p>Sasuke ended up winning his match, by using the 'extra weight' on his back. As it turns out, the extra weight seemed to have a mind of its own; or more clearly, it seems to move as a second reaction to Sasuke's thoughts.<p>

The 'extra weight' had wrapped itself around Sasuke and Yoroi as they had both came falling from midair, but only Sasuke was lucky enough to come out uninjured.

Right now, Yoroi was in a humbled form against the wall, all tucked up like he was sleeping, his consciousness had slipped away.

The proctor walked over to the lump and squatted to check if he was able to continue the battle. Whenever he felt no consciousness on the boy, he stood fully and marked his check board with surprise before he declared the winner. "Winner, Sasuke Uchiha."

After that people immediately had went into applause, and Sasuke's 'wings' retreated, leaving no scars or anything that proved their existence. It was almost as if it had been an illusion…

Sasuke came walking up the stairs with his usual smirk on his face, as he smiled about his victory. It was a feat to overcome, but at least now, he was going on to the next round. And he gets to have an excuse to train with Kagome after this is over…

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry I had to end it there, I was already late in updating as it is. ^_^' <strong>

**The next chapter will contain the other half of the preliminaries…. I think. I'm trying not to drag this out too long. I really want to hurry up and be done with it.**

**So it might take longer to update next time, but at the most one to two weeks. **

**Thank you guys for the reviews! They made me want to get this done sooner. :) **


	7. AUTHORS NOTE

**Authors Note: I'm _moving_ the first twelve chapters. I'm not deleting them; just moving.**

**They're not really important to the story, so I'm moving them to a different story, setting it as the prequel.**

**It was supposed to be the prequel before; but I couldn't post new stories back then so I'm just going to remove them, **

**If anyone wants to read them they will be under **

**TK: The Prequel. :) **

**thanks. And the chapters will all be posted. **

**Sincerely, **

**BelieveInKi1214**


	8. AN: REVIEW RECALL

**AN: Reviewing Updated Chapters Recall-**

**If for some reason you can't review any of the chapters that are on this story, you can review as anonymous if you want to, I wouldn't mind. ^_^ **

**It's just that I realize that you guys can't review if you did already for the prequel, so yea. **

**Just leave an anonymous review; I don't mind. or get on someone else's account. lol. idc either way. **

**Just no Flames, because I'm still not even sure if I want to continue with this story or not. **

**Later, **

**BelieveInKi1214**


	9. ANOTHER AUTHORS NOTE SORRY AGAIN

**AUTHORS NOTE? :/ **

**Should I continue this? **

**I'm kind of inspired to keep writing it, now that I'm on Summer Break with nothing to do.**

**I'm not sure, I stopped for a few months, and I just want to know if anyone else is willing to read the rest? **

**And sorry for getting your hopes up by uploading again, and this isn't even a chapter, but i just want to know if anyone is interested in continuing to read this. **

**Thank you for reading/reviewing/alerting/favoriting in the first place. :) **

**-BelieveInKi1214**


	10. Killing This Story

**Authors note: ****I'M KILLING THIS STORY. It will be deleted soon. **

**I'm not satisfied with how Kagome came out... I made her too godlike and I feel very embarassed about that now. :( But, really, that was then, and this is now. **

**In my other story, _My Date with the Daimyo's Daughter_, I'm actually showing her progress, and that is a far cry from the 'power' I handed to Kagome on a silver platter in here.**

**So, I'm killing this story because I tried and I couldn't find any rememdy to fix it to make this story worth reading again.**

**But, don't worry, **

**Since I already have most of the next chapter written, I'll post it for you all to read, because I'm seriously going to have to rewrite this entire series. -.-'**

**It might be completely different from this, though. **

**Sorry, to anyone whose time I've wasted. **

**If I ever get around to posting the rewrite, it'll most likely be different from how all of this got started out. **

**But right now, I need to redeem myself from writing a horrible mary-sue. But it's time I put her to death. Though, surprisingly every other character I was alright with. They progressed... but I kinda got the 'Strong!Kagome' stuck in my head even though I tried to show progress... :/ EPIC FAIL! -_-'**

**Now, my problem is not much of writer's block, but more of my frustration toward this story. The delete might be dangerously soon. **

**But thank you all for those of you who've supported this story. I couldn't have became a better writer without you. So, I promise, the next _TK: The Legendary_ I decide to write won't have any MAJOR mary-sues! **

**-Later! **

**BelieveInKi1214**


	11. Ch 18 The Ending

**AN: This is the last Chapter due to me killing this series, and I still don't own Naruto or InuYasha. And I didn't bother editing it, or finishing it, so I'm sorry. **

**But I hope you guys enjoyed the story none the less. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 6 [The Last Chapter]: Bottom Line, Royalty<strong>

Sasuke went to stand by Kagome, Kakashi, and Naruto, and as soon as he got there he got some weird looks from everyone who had been watching his match. He didn't understand why though, but he was just glad he didn't have to fight right now. He gets to watch everyone else's fight; namely, Kagome's and Naruto's. Kagome's because she's Kagome, and Naruto, just because he wants to fight him later since it was obvious that he didn't get to fight him.

The meds came and carried Yoroi off, but not without giving curious glances towards Sasuke as they carried him off. And whenever Sasuke made it to his team and the rest of the rookies he heard something that he didn't expect to hear. Let alone be hugged again… cue the blasphemous blood rush to his cheeks and the nervousness to begin.

"You did great Sasuke-kun!" Kagome beamed, as she latched herself onto Sasuke.

Naruto glared at Sasuke, and Kakashi simply raised an eyebrow at the boys' antics. Of course everyone else looked on curiously, too. Were the two going steady, or something? But, if rumor served well, the Uchiha boy was cold to every female creature; right? But Kagome had pulled away before anyone's opinions on the matter could form properly.

Beyond anyone else whose attention wasn't on the board that was now ever changing, the names finally slowed down and landed on one Kabuto Yakushi.

Kagome sighed in disappointment before she turned to her team. "It looks like I'm not going to get to see you fight." She frowned.

"Why?" Naruto began to ask, but Kagome turned back to the board while pointing to it just as it stopped while landing on her name.

"Whoa, good timing, Kagome-nee-sama-chan!" Rock Lee chimed, while pumping his fist high in the air, with flames in his eyes signifying his flames of youth. "If only I could be as powerful in the mind to make such predictions! Then maybe my turn will come as well!"

Kagome was about to correct him on his improper use of her name, but she was cut off by Hayate-sensei that was below, with Kabuto standing directly by him, both staring at her impatiently waiting for her to get on the floor. She didn't even see him walk down there. Strange, "Will Kagome Higurashi please come down?" Hayate commented sounding rather annoyed.

Kagome grumbled. "They planned this on purpose. I'm taking the long way, thank you very much." Then a little louder she said, "I'm coming, I'm coming. Geez; there really is no point in rushing me; I'll get there when I get there!"

Asuma, Kurenai, Kakashi, and Gai were only staring at her. Three of the four in amusement, and one in shock; she was already starting to act like Kakashi, with his tardiness. There's no telling what other habits she would pick up. It wouldn't be a good thing either.

"How troublesome; Kagome-chan gets to fight him. This probably won't end well." Shikamaru commented lazily, while Ino and Chouji were trying to see what he meant. Well, Ino was; Chouji was devouring his bag of potato chips.

"What do you mean, Shikamaru?" Ino demanded.

"Just watch," he remarked, sighing.

Naruto and Sasuke were watching intently as well as Kakashi. Even they were kind of on the edge about this fight. Who is going to win? Cause if any of them understood correctly, the older leaf genin hadn't given off a good vibe…

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><p>The Hokage watched through narrowed, but wise eyes as he took up the second match. Of course he wanted Kagome to get her match over with during the beginning, but this genin that she's against isn't someone to play with. <em>That kid… he looks familiar,<em> he thought. He looked to his side to see Iruka and Anko standing together while watching the board with somewhat hopeful gazes.

"Iruka," Hiruzen began, "Where is Tsunade?"

Iruka turned his eyes away from his former student to answer to his village leader with confused eyes before he frowned in realization. "I don't know; she and Akemi were out this morning again whenever we came in. Knowing them two, they're probably at the gambling casino."

"Well, she needs to hurry here; I have a feeling Kagome isn't going to hold out very long." The Hokage frowned in response.

Iruka knew what that meant; it must have had something to do with the allergy reaction that Kagome had spread across her neck. Whatever it was, it couldn't have been good, she shouldn't even be fighting right now; whenever she looks like she's about to keel over at any second.

He knew that entering the rookies to the Chuunin exams this year wasn't a bright idea…

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><p>Whenever Kagome had finally made it to the center of the floor, Kabuto smirked at her from behind his glasses and the proctor sighed before flipping his pages on his clipboard to record the fight that was about to take place and prepared himself to tell the rules again, in case either party has forgotten. "Alright, here're the rules,"<p>

"We heard you loud and clear the first few times," Kagome sighed. "Let's just get this over with." near the end, though, she grinned.

"Good luck, Kagome-chan." Kabuto winked. "You know, at first I wasn't very wary of you… but now I know that I need to be."

Kagome just raised a brow, before she glared at the boy straight.

"Alright," Hayate commented watching both genin carefully. "You may… begin!"

Through the dark shinobi's eyes; Kabuto's sensei, watched with perverse excitement as he looked on the two that had caught his interest the most. He was finally getting to see his Kagome-chan fight against no one other than his student, his right hand man. But, inwardly his mind was hissing in warning that shall Kabuto go overboard; he'd have to unknowingly interfere. But, with a new weapon in his arsenal, that wouldn't be a problem even in the slightest.

'_Kagome-chan_ will _win this fight_,' his dark snake's eyes were giving off a mischievous glint, as his lips twitched in a shadow of a smirk.

His other student, the one that wasn't carried off on a stretcher, was looking down at the two that were sparring in distaste that was rolling off him in waves. That girl looked just plain disgusting. He rolled his eyes and fixed his shades, pushing them up higher on his nose; but he didn't dare say anything about Orochimaru's fixture less he wished to die before he even gotten the chance to fight.

"Very well, Kabuto-san. Sooner or later will be my match though," '_Though I doubt Orochimaru-sama would even stay to watch my fight. After all, you _are_ his favorite._'

Kagome's gaze looked around her surroundings for anything out of place; there was nothing that would demand her attention otherwise. So, feeling a bit better, she turned her attention back to her opponent. Kabuto was watching her with expectant eyes. His aura was dripping of nothing but impatience, and Kagome had known from Naruto's usual impatience, she would have thought that Kabuto would have rushed at her had she not started the fight already. But, Kabuto seemed to know better than that, she was sure of it.

"Well?" the proctor muttered irately, "Are you going to begin or do you forfeit?"

"Hold on a minute. You can't rush into a battle blind, can you?" Kagome ground out, when in all truth, she was trying to figure out how to fight without damaging her already bad condition.

She got into simple academy taijutsu stance, knowing that her taijutsu was well off, but that didn't matter to her. She wasn't a close-combat type of person. She was more of a distance fighter, using her bow and arrows, and whenever she did fight close, she mainly used her swords. But now was not the time to use a sword. She frowned.

She was sure she couldn't use her sword on Kabuto. Her instincts went off with that idea. But, being a shinobi meant being risky when it called for it. She'll definitely use it later. She nodded finally having decided what she was going to do.

She was going to have to wear him out.

Kagome crouched a bit, staying in her stance, but it was obvious Kabuto wasn't going to start the fight, so as she crouched she let herself get more of a boost by letting her muscles contract before she sprung up at the waiting ninja.

She knew he'd dodge.

That was how this fight began, though. She'd leap at him and he'd dodge agitatedly with a confused look on his face, and that would repeat over and over again. Everyone was getting confused of her not throwing any punches, or anything really.

"If you're trying to wear me out, Kagome-chan, you might as well forget it." Kabuto rebuked her.

Kagome was on the far side of the room now, having slid back from a kick Kabuto had spontaneously aimed at her ribs instead of what she had expected; dodging. She was holding the injured part of her ribs, knowing that she couldn't heal them here. She felt kind of useless right now, actually.

"Is it working, though?" she asked with no emotion, except feeling the exhaust of overworking, and she automatically blamed the snake-bastard for it.

Kabuto hadn't answered but instead started pumping chakra to his hands, and soon enough blue chakra was visible on both of his hands as he looked up directly at Kagome though his bangs with an unreadable expression. His stance was sure, he knew what he was doing, and despite the fact that it was obvious he wasn't much of a taijutsu fighter either, Kagome knew this fight just gotten even more serious.

Kagome could see a glint on his glasses, and somehow she knew he was sneering. But that didn't stop her from standing upright, hands in a formidable seal that she hadn't shown anybody, save for her teammates. . .

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><p><strong>AN: Welp, that was it. Terrible place to end it, but I wasn't happy with how Kagome came out, and I might not even rewrite this. <strong>

****I probably won't delete it because it is proof of how well I've grown in my writing abilities. ****

****So, this story will stay up, even though I deleted TK: The Prequel. ****


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